Alpha Series - False Paradise
by AnsemD
Summary: Follow Sophie Young, a teenage leopard who lost her family during a dark time of Zootopia, when the ZPD and criminal families still fought over the supremacy of the town. Old and new will clash together in a city which will soon be known as a paradise for every mammal in this world. Here Adrian Wilde and Sophie Young will set the cornerstone for a new paradise and its future.
1. The Tannhauser Gate

**The Tannhauser Gate**

With a loud bang slammed the old door against the wall of the small room and the young female Leopard recognized it even in her dreams and began to tremble. Shivering and freezing, Sophie laid on a bare mattress in an old and abandoned factory building, somewhere at the end of the docks of Tundratown. She wore only old jeans, a blue and way too big sweater and a light jacket. The clothes were old, dirty and also ripped in some places.

The factory building was way up in the north of the town, Right there, where the port went over in the vast mountains that were the natural border of Zootopia in the north-east. Her sleep was unsteady, and the missing blanket did the rest to her state of health. Everyone could see at first sight that she was too light and also too small for her age, a result of the last year on the streets and the resulting malnutrition.

'We will find them . . . Rob will fix this; he is the only one who is there for me . . . Yes, my brother will end this terrible situation for us.' Sophie Young recited in her sleep like a mantra. Her dreams vanished, and she was brought back to reality, as soon as she heard the rough voice of her brother.

"Stand up! We have to go!" Robert roared while he walked through the small roam, which was in the old days a break room for the worker of this facility, but now it was a sleeping place for Sophie and her brother Robert. Robert hastily gathered all their belongings together and stuffed it into a worn out duffle bag.

Dozily, the twelve-year-old leopard girl, looked up to her six-year older brother and hoped that he had something to eat for her. Her last meal was already two days ago and consisted only of a little can of tuna, but Robert had nothing for her so she accepted her fate reluctantly.

"What's wrong brother? D-Did something happened?" Sophie asked carefully and rubbed her eyes, which were still tear-filled from the cold and her sleep. With confusion, she realized that it was still nighttime and the only light that illuminated the room was the orange shine of the street lights from outside.

"I told you to stand up and come! We have no time for this bullshit. I don't know if you can't understand this but they are after us, and I guess we have no other choice than to leave the town! Probably over the mountains to escape them. . . " Robert said and thought for a moment about the idea, as he looked out of the window. Not far from here stood the mountains of the Snowy Hills, dark, vast and impossible to overcome for Sophie in the darkness and cold of the night.

The young leopard had a weak constitution and was still recovering from pneumonia; she had not too long ago. The memories of the fever and the pain were still fresh in her mind and not even a week old. A walk over the Snowy Hills would kill her, she knew it. With shaking feet,

Sophie stood up from the bed and closed the only jacket she owned. Her head hurt again from the fast-uprising, probably was the recovery from her sickness still not complete. It was no wonder in this surrounding of dirt, cold and snow. Slowly, the young leopard turned to her brother.

"But...but how? P-please Rob, c-can't we leave the city over the Meadowlands or . . . " Sophie began, but she never end this sentence. Robert pressed her suddenly against the wall and held his paw around her throat. All the air, she had in her lungs seemed to have disappeared. Shocked by the sudden force against her, the only thing that Sophie could do was staring at her brother with wide eyes, which pleaded him to stop. Almost whispering, her brother began to speak in an angry voice to her.

"Listen carefully, Sis. There is a mammal after us, and he wants us dead. Why? I don't know. The only thing that I know is that he is infamous for getting his work done, okay? We have to go, and we have to go now!" Robert explained, and Sophie could see the fear in his eyes. He wasn't joking or lying about this, and the realization that either death awaits Sophie and her brother here by the paws of another mammal or somewhere in the mountains by the cold winds made her feel so desperate like never before in her short life. Sophie didn't know why but she had the feeling that tonight, death was following them and she hoped it wouldn't catch up to them.

After ten minutes of packing, Sophie stood in the doorframe of the small room and looked for the last time back. The place was cold and dirty but still better than wandering outside through the freezing snow, but she knew that they had to go. Robert wanted it like this, and he knew best, didn't he?

This place didn't feel like home, not even close, but strangely it felt like . . . Something.

"Sophie!" Robert hissed from the metal stairway that led down to the ward in front of the building. He was nervous, something Sophie didn't see in her brother. Until now, he was always the tough one, the one who knew what to do and which way to go. She was more than willing to follow her brother, no matter where Robert led her, but lately, she began to have second thoughts. What if he was wrong? She loved him, more than anything in the world and he was also the one who always protected her against others. But would that last forever?

Together they left the empty factory building and walked up north, alongside the docks of Tundratown and in the direction of the right now unguarded checkpoint. – The Tannhauser Gate. If it were summer, the Tannhauser Gate would be full of police officers and administration mammals, who tried to control the stream of coming and going mammals. Right now was winter, the place would be probably deserted, and nobody would be there to check on them when they pass through. Because no one could be so foolish to wander through the Snowy Mountains in winter, well maybe an arctic fox or a snow hare could do that without freezing to death, but Sophie was a leopard. The heat was always her home, and she knew by now one thing for sure, and that was that she hated the snow more than anything else.

They walked one behind the other, Robert was the first with his fast pace and his heavy dark coat, followed then by Sophie who wore just a light jacket and had her arms slung around her upper body. She was freezing, and with every minute Robert was walking further in front of her. If he kept his pace, he would soon be gone.

"Rob, p-please wait for me!" Sophie was pleading loudly behind him. With a loud sigh, Robert stood still and watched annoyed back at his sister, and said," I told you to hurry, dammit! We have no time! Come with me or stay, your decision!"

Without another word, Robert turned around and walked on. For a long moment, it felt like a punch in the guts for Sophie. With trembling lips, half from the cold and half from her emotional state, she looked after him, hoping that he would turn around. But he didn't. And there it was again, this low whisper in the back of her head, which became louder.

'Sophie, go! You don't need him!' the voice whispered.  
'But . . . Rob is my brother! I can't do that!' Sophie answered the voice.

'Yes, you can! Look, how he treated you! He wears a warm and new cloth, now look at you! You are a frozen piece of a kitten, nothing more.' The voice said.

'Maybe he needs it more. I mean he tries to feed us and makes things better!' Sophie said.

'LIES!' The voice shouted in her mind, but continued much softer, ' . . . Just accept it, Sophie, he doesn't...'

"NO! He is my brother!" Sophie shouted out loud and silenced the voice in her head. Her brother didn't even recognize her shouting. He just walked on towards the massive building at the end of the street.

The last whisper echoed through her mind, 'Accept it and don't forget. Clinging to false promises and lies will not keep you alive.'

The voice was gone, and Sophie tried to get her breath under control. She could feel how the cold winter air filled her lungs. The cold stung in her chest. Slowly, she got herself back under control.

Before Robert was almost out of sight and the fear that she could lose him overcome her, Sophie continued to walk on.

The snow around her was glittering, white and perfect. Like the perfect little life, she once had with her Mum, Dad, and her brother. Together they lived in a small house in Savannah Central, and everything was perfect. She had her friends, the school, her field and tracks team, and of course her family. But one day when she came home, her parents were gone. Just gone. The only thing that remained was her brother Robert, and he promised to watch over her, to protect her and to give her back the life they once had.

But with every day it just got worse, their parents did not come back. They were just gone, and nobody knew where. After this, they lost the house, her place in school and Robert his part-time job in a diner. From there on and without any living family, they lived on the streets and tried to survive as good as they could. Also, this was gone now, and the only thing that was left was to walk on right into the winter night.

Sophie didn't even understand what was going on. She never did anything wrong, and she would swear the same for her brother Robert. Day for day, she tried to survive in the streets of Zootopia, which wasn't as easy as it seemed. Rob was most of the time gone, working or trying anything to earn some money. But mostly it didn't end well.

Even the police were no option. Robert said that they would find them as soon as they go to the ZPD and so the young leopard kept herself alone in the shadows and waited for her brother to return every night. Sophie slept most of the time alone and then wherever she could find a place that seemed safe enough for her. These were mostly old abandoned buildings, bridges or any unused railway compartments. Not too long ago, those places had frighten Sophie but those times were over. Now she knew that abandoned sites couldn't hurt you, but she knew that mammals could.

One time, when she was wandering around town, she came across some other feline teenagers, a jaguar, a tiger and a lion. They were not much older than herself but bigger and stronger. At first, they had just talked to Sophie, but when she refused to go with them to have some fun, they dragged into an alley and pressed her against a wall. The tiger and the jaguar held her each by one of her arms and Sophie could feel how they scrutinized her from head to tail and just for a moment it felt as if she would stay naked in front of them. Sophie knew what they wanted from her, and even they made no secret of it. The lion, a big guy and how it seemed the leader of the pack already began to take her cloth off when she pushed him back with her arms and ran as fast as she could. For over a mile Sophie did not dare to turn around or to run slower, the fear that they could catch up to her was just too intense. And even now, months after this event, she could still remember it all so vividly, the smell of the other feline teenagers, their gazes and how they had talked to her, but the worst of all were the touches of the lion. If she could wish for anything, then it was to forget about all of this but she couldn't, and she knew it would stay forever.  
Sophie laid the following night awake in an abandoned hospital on the outskirts of the city and tried to cry herself to sleep. But this day, rest didn't come quickly, and even her brother wasn't around. She was alone and had to accept it. In the end, Sophie comforted herself as good as she could, and it was this time when she heard the voice for the first time. Just a whisper but it was enough to question everything.

'Don't trust him, Sophie, you are strong on your own. You don't need him.'

Sophie looked up at the mountains and saw that new clouds were coming over them, ready to deliver even more snow to Zootopia. A deep sigh escaped her muzzle when she walked further on the road which was just illuminated by the orange street lanterns. For a short moment, she thought to see a shadow, that walked not far from her right side, but as soon as

she turned her head, it was gone. The young leopard shook her head and told herself that her hunger was driving her slowly crazy.  
Small and dark laid the pass station at the end of the street, but it was already in sight.

'Maybe we can stay there for a while . . . if we are lucky.' Sophie thought and wrapped her arms tighter around her upper body.

It took Sophie and her brother Robert another thirty minutes before they finally arrived at the Tannhauser Gate. Her brother was already inspecting the building, but she had no idea what Robert was searching. The place seemed deserted. All windows were dark and no sign of life in the Gate House, which looked more like a very expensive mountain Lodge than an office building of the city administration.

"C-can we please go in brother? I'm so cold, please!" Sophie begged him. Robert, however, clicked his tongue and replied sour, "Fine, but not too long and we need to find a way to enter and leave without making too much of a ruckus."

Robert watched Sophie, who stood now in front of the main entrance and looked at the metal double door. It seemed heavy but somehow manageable for her. She laid her paws on the door handles and pushed.

"Leave it! It's probably locked! We should search for another way inside!" Robert shouted in anger, but to their astonishments the door gave in and for the first time in weeks Sophie had to smile. Enthusiastic entered the young leopard the halls and felt for the first time in weeks the long-awaited warmth. Slowly disappeared the numbness in her paws and legs, and with every passing second, she felt more and more alive.

Robert followed slowly into the building. Carefully, he looked around in the dark entrance area. To their left and right were on each side four counters, where mammals of all heights could receive service from administration workers of the city. In front of the counters and towards the middle of the hall stood metal railings to guide the mammals to their correct path. The wall and the ceiling of the hall were made out of polished oak wood and shinned even in this cold night from the incoming light of the moon. All around the room stood benches to make it as comfortable as possible for the waiting mammals, and Sophie instantly chose the one in the middle of the room for herself.

Her eyes burned, and she could feel the returning symptoms of the fever. For a short moment, the young leopard tried to relax her sore muscles and teary eyes. When she opened them again, Sophie saw that a clock was hanging on the other side of the hall. It was a big one, and to her surprise, it even had a counter to show the current the date. According to the clock, it was the 28th of December 1989, and by now it was 2:09 AM in the night.

'I missed Christmas . . . And I didn't even realize it.' Sophie noticed and thought she would shed tears for a moment but there was nothing left to cry about, everything was gone. The family with which she would have celebrated was gone and not even her brother thought about her.

Sophie was tired and wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep until the sun was standing high over the city but she knew that her brother had different plans. Robert seemed to be finished with examining the building and walked finally back to her.

"Alright, we seem to be alone. Listen, we will rest for two hours and then go on. I want to be out of this damn city, as soon as possible." Robert said, but when Sophie heard the words, she felt how panic spread all over her body.

"No! Please, Robert! I'm tired, hungry and freezing . . . I-I can't go on. It's too much for me." Sophie said with tears in her eyes and hoped to awaken any emotion in her brother's heart. For a moment there was just silence and the hope that they would stay, at least long enough, that Sophie could recover.  
But her hope shouldn't last long, Robert took Sophie by the collar of a jacket and yanked her up in the air until she was on eye level with him. His eyes were half closed, and right then she could see just hate in him. Hate against her, the world, the town – just everyone.

"I didn't ask for your opinion, Sophie. So, shut your damn mouth and do as I say!" Robert shook her fiercely, but while he did, Sophie could free herself from his firm grip. Painful and hard, she dropped to the ground and laid there for a moment. Her body began to tremble, and Sophie couldn't say if it was because of the impact or the sudden anger of her brother. But she knew she had to protect herself as good as she could from his upcoming tantrum. Fear was taking over, and Sophie dragged her limps as close to her body as the young feline could in her current situation. Finally, she closed her eyes and waited, and hoped that it would be over.

"I'm your older brother, and I know what's best for you! You hear me?" Robert shouted down to the sad pile of yellow, white and black. The whimpering seemed far for the enraged predator when he kicked his sister several times with full force in the stomach. Panting, Robert stood above his sister and waited for another reply. It was then when a third voice echoed through the halls.

"This is all you can do, Robert? Beating up a little girl? Pathetic. I waited for a bold thief and not a little boy, who don't understand what to do with his strength and all his anger. It seems that someone has misinformed me about you." The voice said calm and collected. There was no trace of fear in it. Sophie and her brother looked around the hall, but they couldn't see any other mammal.

"Who are you? Where are you? Show yourself if you want to fight!" Robert shouted into the shadows of the gatehouse, his fists clenched and his fangs were showing. Sophie's stomach hurt terrible, in her fear she didn't know what to do and crept slowly back to the bench until she felt the hardwood against her back. She slung her arms around her thin legs and watched her brother and waited for the voice to continue.

Someone chuckled from the dark. It was faint and slight but still audible as if the mammal, from which it came stood right behind the two. Her cat eyes should have no problem in the

dark, but Sophie could see nothing that looked like a mammal and also no movement, not even the slightest bit.

"You know who I am and you also know what they call me. But the better question is, what do you think I am? A dumb boy, who runs away from his mistakes, like you? No . . . I'm here to get back what you have stolen, Robert." The voice said.

"Stolen? You have stolen something Robert?" Sophie said in complete confusion. She could only stare at him until she heard again this familiar voice in her head.

'Liar! That's what he is. Didn't I told you?' The voice in her mind whispered, but Sophie just shook her head and tried to ignore it.

"Shut up, Sophie. I can't use your stupid questions, right now!" Robert snarled back at her and the young feline startled.

"Oh, you didn't even told her? That's very rude of you Robert. First, you ruin her life and then you didn't even tell her what happened?" The voice said and made a little break before it continued to talk, but this time to Sophie, "What is your name, little Miss?"

"S-Sophie," The young leopard answered with fear in her voice.

"Sophie. . . What a beautiful name. Did you know that it means 'wisdom'? Its origin is from the old greek mammals . . . thousands of years old." The voice said softly as if they had a conversation in a cafe on a warm summer day.

"Y-yes I did and t-thank you?" Sophie answered and was unsure how she should react. Somehow she felt no danger from the mammal in the dark, but she was also uncertain about the whole situation.

"STOP THIS NONSENSE TALK ALREADY AND COME OUT YOU COWARD!" Robert shouted and looked in every corner of the room as if he would await an attack, that would start at any moment. But nothing happened, and the voice continued calm and softly its conversation with his sister Sophie.

"Tell me, Sophie, do you want to know the truth about your brother and how you two came into your current predicament?" The voice asked, and Sophie gaze went instantly up to her brother. The anger in Robert's eyes seemed immediately to vanish.

'Liar! I told you he isn't honest with you!' The voice in her mind whispered again.

All Robert did was shaking his head, "No, no, no, she doesn't want to know! She doesn't have to know! Have you heard me? She . . ." Robert said but was interrupted by the soft voice of his sister.

"Yes, I want to know," Sophie said with a certainty she never felt before in her life. Her yellow eyes looked right into the ones of her brother. Now she looked at Robert with a mixture of anger and fear.  
"Over a year ago, your brother Robert started to work for the Mobster Queen of Zootopia, Minerva Bell. And like everyone else he should have known, that you do not steal from a Queen. Especially not from this one," The voice explained and made a short break. When Sophie looked up to Robert, he didn't look like a grown mammal anymore. He was like a little kitten that stood here in the darkness and got scolded for his mistakes. Robert looked miserable with his arms pressed to his side, and his gaze stared just to the ground.

"He stole her most precious piece, a silver ring it is, with a small aquamarine on it. Light blue and almost of no value." The voice declared, and at once Robert was back into reality.

"What? They all said it's was her most precious one! Everyone! So, how can it be of no high value!" Robert shouted and saw the shocked and disappointed face of his sister.

'Liar! Liar!' The voice in Sophie's head screamed again, and she felt as if she needed to throw up, but there was nothing. With a feeling of utter betrayal, she sat in front of her brother and waited for the end of the little story.

"Precious doesn't mean valuable. This ring was a gift from her mother to her. It was given on the mother's deathbed to the daughter. You know, Robert, some queens wear tiaras, other have a scepter . . . Well, this queen here had a ring that was passed on from generation to generation and with it the power to rule over the Bell family. Do you understand now what you did, Boy? I think you do, but it's too late now. Right, now is the only thing you can do, is to pay." The voice said, and Robert understood. Sophie saw that he was frightened and angry, he wanted to run away, but the young female leopard felt that there was no escape possible from this place.

Robert turned towards the door and tried to reach it. He shouldn't come far; the shot came unexpectedly from a far corner of the room. The sound was nothing more than a coughing, but at the moment when the bullet left the gun, and the small explosion enlighten the area around it, Sophie could see two emerald-colored eyes in the darkness. Just for the blink of an eye and they were gone.

Screaming, Robert shuttered to the ground, holding his right leg in agony. The shot had destroyed his right shinbone. The wound was not lethal, but Robert also couldn't leave this building without help, of that he was sure.

"Robert!" Sophie shouted and ran as fast as she could to her shouting brother. She kneeled down beside him and inspected his wound. There were blood and some white bone fragments but not too much.

"Please give him the ring back! Just end it, please!" Sophie begged him. Robert was fighting with himself and no matter how he would decide — he would lose something.

"No . . . No all the effort and . . . The loses . . . For nothing?" Robert said with a painful face. His right paw over the right pocket of his coat. Sophie knew he wouldn't give the ring back not now with this terrible wound. The image of the strong brother, which she had until now slowly crumbled to dust in front of her and all that was left was a spoiled brat who lose his favorite toy.

Again sounded the voice from the shadows, "You can give me the ring of your own free will or I will get it later from your corpse, Robert."

She heard the words and knew what she had to do. Carefully laid Sophie her paw over his right one and spoke to him but not before her mind spoke to her.

'Leave him. Leave the liar. That's what he deserves. Leave him, as he left you every day in the mud of the city!' the voice whispered to her and with every passing minute she liked the sound of the idea better and better. For now, she could still ignore the words, but for how long?

"Brother," Sophie said soothingly with a smile,"We need to get out of this situation. We have to end this. Please look at me."

Robert raised his head and looked deep into her eyes. Both shared the same eye-color they got from their mother. Father had dark grey eyes, but they had both the bright yellow ones of their beloved mother.

"We will get out of this situation, I promise," Sophie said, and for the first time he gave her a sad little smile. It wouldn't last long. Sophie stood up and stepped back, out of his reach. In her left paw, she held the small silver ring, which she stole with quick fingers from the pocket of her brother's coat.

If the last year on the streets of Zootopia had taught her one thing, then the will and skill to survive. However, in the previous ten minutes, she learned an even more important lesson in her life, the only mammal you can rely on is yourself and no one else. She would end this even if her brother wanted to or not.

"Where should I put the ring?" Sophie asked loud. Strangely she had no fear at this moment, and it was this moment when Robert realized what happened. He grabbed into his pocket and searched for it, but the ring was gone.

"You're just as wise as your name proclaims it, Sophie. Lay it back on the bench where you sat not long ago." The voice said, and so did Sophie. She could feel how a little blush crept over her face for the compliment he gave her.

Before Sophie laid down the ring, she scrutinized him for a short moment. The silver looked used and was in no good shape, but the light blue aquamarine shone in her paw like a little star. She understood how her brother could be fooled so easily by its appearance. With a deep sigh laid Sophie the ring on the bench and walked back to her brother. Dull and absent, his eyes stared to the ground in front of him; Robert's face was a mask that Sophie couldn't

decipher. She squatted down next to him and laid her left paw on his right shoulder, to give him at least a little bit of comfort. Even if he had hurt her, Robert was still her brother.

"Well done, Sophie. Now Robert, how do you think to pay for your crime?" The voice asked. Sophie was petrified about the words, but her brother seemed to have enough of this show. His mask broke and underneath appeared a grimace of disgust.

"Pay? What do you think you are? The damned ZPD? But if you want payment for what I have done . . . take her! Here's your damned payment!" Robert shouted and grabbed the left paw of his sister. His claws went deep into the paw pad of Sophie. Blood trickled over her paw and directly onto her fur. The pain was terrible, and a fierce shriek escaped her muzzle. But no matter how much she tried to free herself, he wouldn't let go of her, and with every attempt by the young feline, the wound just got deeper and deeper.

"Auuhh . . . Robert, Please let go! You're hurting me!" Sophie shouted at him. She had never expected him to do this.

"Take her and sell her, I think this will be payment enough for your damned Queen! Sell her to a brothel or some other mammals who have an interest in young felines; I don't care what happens to her . . . I'm done with this little bitch of a sister!" Robert didn't look at her, not even once. He just stared into the darkness before him and waited for a reply holding tight to his sister. Beside him, a world suddenly shattered, Sophie's world. In the last year, she lost everything important in her life, and with Robert, she lost the last mammal she trusted. She felt that she was truly alone now.

Tears ran in streams down her face, but no sob or word escaped her muzzle. She didn't even know what to say or answer to him. For a moment she also stopped trying to get free from his firm grip.

"Your sister? That is what you offer? Tsk and mammals sometimes say I am a monster." The voice said and for a moment reigned silence among the mammals. "Do you accept this, Sophie?" The voice asked.

"She has to! I say so!" Robert shouted into the dark but was directly interrupted by his sister. "NO!" Sophie screamed and ripped with pure force her paw free from her brother. With wide eyes watched Robert his sister and listened to the gruesome sound, when she freed herself. Stumbling and panting, she walked back and held her bleeding paw with her right one.

The blood was until now just dripping from her paw, but it expanded fast into a stream of blood, gathering on the end of her middle finger and falling in big red drops from Sophie's paw and onto the wooden floor. It didn't take long, and a lake of blood grew on the wooden floor in every direction. Sophie had retreated and stood in the middle of the room, where she panted heavily from the awful pain. A look down to her paw, and she could see just blood and open flesh. Under massive pain, she tried to make a fist. All her fingers obeyed her command, even when the pain almost made her faint. She could still move all her fingers, that was everything that counts. At least one good sign.

"You will go with him, Sister. Do you understand me?" Robert said with clenched teeth.

'Tell him what you think. Tell him.' the voice whispered again and for the first time, Sophie did what it demanded.

"NO! I have enough of this, and I will not be the payment for your mistakes! You said you would do everything brother, but you lied! Everything became worse with every passing day! Mom is gone, Dad is gone, our old life is gone, and I'm so sick of living in the dirt and cold. I want to go to school and live my life! But at most I want to be free — free of You and your damn lies and promises!" Sophie shouted to her brother. Both siblings stared at each other as if they were old enemies, ready to kill each other at any moment.

"Here, take it and claim what is rightfully yours." The voice said, and both felines heard a scratching sound from metal on wood and how it went over the floor, until it finally stopped, directly in front of Sophie's feet. It was a gun, but it was longer than a normal one, on the muzzle of the weapon was something attached like a metal tube.

"What you see is just a sound suppressor for the gun, I hate loud noises during my work. Take the gun or leave it, the choice is yours, Sophie." The voice said. Sophie just shook her head. She had no idea what she should do with it. This thing would solve her all of her problems, but it would also end the life of her brother, and she had to do it. Right then, Sophie had a dangerous idea, but right now everything she did could be the last.

"What . . . What if I use the gun against you, Mister?" Sophie asked carefully and continued to stare at the gun to her feet. A little chuckle was all she got as a first reply.

"You are too clever, Sophie not to realize, that I wouldn't give you a gun if I didn't have a second one . . . But besides why should you hurt me? I never did anything to you? Or did I?" The mammal in the shadows asked, still calm.

"No," Sophie replied and dropped her gaze down to the gun.

'Take it and free yourself from him.' A voice whispered in the back of her head. Should she take it? Her life was terrible, no doubt about that, but killing someone and then even her brother – impossible.

'I can't do that he is my brother. I shouldn't even think about something like that,' Sophie thought, but instantly the by now familiar voice echoed through her mind,' He wanted to sell you off like a slave, is that better? What were you, all the months for him, mmh? Oh, and are you sure that he doesn't know what happened to your parents? I wouldn't be so sure about that. You know once a liar...' The voice whispered.

The idea was stuck in her head for a long time now, but she couldn't speak it out loud or better she didn't want to. He was her only hope that everything would be better if she just trusted him. He was the only one she had, and what should she do without him?

'You survived on your own! Not him! You managed to get away from those boys. Not him! Don't make yourself smaller than you are. Also, you have now the possibility to ask him anything, and he will probably answer.' The voice whispered like the devil.

'Yes, I could ask him and maybe get on this way the truth out of him. Then, and only then I could decide what to do. Yes, that may work.' Sophie thought.

Slowly, Sophie squatted down and grabbed the gun with a shaking paw. It was lighter than she expected it to be. Her right paw enclosed around the grip and for a moment she inspected the gun. Gluck, was the name of the producer but it was all that stood on the black thing.

Sophie turned with the gun in her right paw to her brother, pointing directly at him and his in terror widened eyes.

"No, no, no... please no Sophie. I...I didn't mean what I said. I'm sorry p-please let us forget this little rivalry and move on. It will never happen again, I promise." Robert begged her and even tried to get on his knees, but his wound prevented him from doing so. The suspicion that he could change his mind and mood never left Sophie, she knew how fickle her brother could be.

"Tell me what happened to our parents! Tell me what you did when you were not with me! Tell me everything!" Sophie demanded. The younger sibling stood now directly in front of her brother. The distance was not more than a meter. A shot from this distance would be lethal, even from an inexperienced shooter like Sophie.

Robert didn't know what to say and remained silent.

"Tell me!" Sophie shouted, and tears began again to stream down her cheeks. She could also feel how her headache and the fever returned to her, worse than before.

With nothing more than a whisper answered Robert, his sister but he couldn't look at her, "What would it help you if you know what happened? You're just a stupid little girl, nothing more."

"I'm not! All this year, I survived on my own, you weren't there! You haven't seen what I have seen, and you did not have to endure what I had to endure," Sophie said and stopped for a moment, With every passing minute breathing became harder and harder for her. She could feel how her cheeks and ears were burning from the returning fever and the headache that was hammering in her head. But she kept herself together, she must, for the sake of herself.

"I'm done waiting for an answer, Rob. But I need it to move on. Every night I ask myself where they are and what happened, maybe we could even find them. But the only thing that kept me sleeping at night was your promise that everything would be better! You were my hero, Rob." Sophie pleaded, her lips were trembling by now, and the gun in her paws felt heavier with every minute that passed.

"There are no heroes, Sis. And you will never find our parents." Robert answered. He was finally calm, but that calm from her brother soothed Sophie, not one bit.

'Shot him! He deserves it, Sophie' The voice whispered and Sophie had more and more problems to distinguish between her mind and the whispering voice in the back of her head. She could feel how they began to merge and that frightened her, more than anything at the moment.

"WHY NOT?" Sophie screamed in desperation. Her eyes closed and her face wet from the tears.

"Because they are dead! And they will not come back! Never!" Robert shouted back and tried to stand up with his good left foot. With all his remaining strength Robert tossed himself onto his sister.  
Tears blinded Sophie and she reacted too late. The shot she fired flight past Robert's head and entered the column behind him with a half-loud thump noise.

Robert had maybe lost his right leg, but he had still his two arms, and they were all he needed at the moment. His sister, surprised by the attack and his weight, went shouting to the ground, the gun still between them. Without any hesitation closed Robert his paws around the thin throat of his sister. He had finally enough of her and just the wish to end it.

Sophie, who laid underneath her brother shook her head with wide eyes, but Robert kept on choking her. The anger had by now completely taken over his mind and revenge was all that filled it.

"They couldn't keep out of my business, and you have no idea what dumb idiots our parents were. They even wanted to help me coming free from my job! They wanted to pay them with their own money, but Dad made a mistake, and in the end, they were dead. Pah, they got what they deserve. And I, I had not such a bad life, like you in the last year. I worked for another mobster boss, you know? His name is Mr. Big, and I made good money with him. The most of it, I spend for myself, but sometimes you got a small piece from me to keep you alive. You were my emergency exit and supposed to bring me out of this dilemma. But you refused, and now I have no other choice. If I go down, then I will take you with me. . . So don't make it harder for me and d-" Robert's face froze in the middle of the sentence. His gaze went down on his body, and he saw, what he had forgotten. Between him and his sister pointed still the gun with the silencer directly at his stomach. Where once was just a white shirt, grew now a red circle broader and broader about the lower chest of Robert.

"You little..." Robert shouted and wanted to finish what he had started, but Sophie had closed her eyes and pushed the trigger of the gun again...

...Again... ...Again... ...Again...

...Again... ...and again.

Until the click of the empty gun was the only thing that echoed through the large hall. The paws around Sophie's throat loosen their tight grip slowly, and with the last of her strength, she managed to crawl from underneath her dying brother. Sophie could feel how she lost her consciousness; the blood loss from her paw became slowly too much for her to bear. Even the fever had spread by now through her small body.

While she laid on the cold ground of the wooden floor, she could hear how her brother took his last breath before he collapsed and slammed heavy to the ground — He was dead, Sophie was sure of it, and she also knew that she wouldn't cry over him.

Sophie had no intention of turning back to him or looking for the last time at his face. Right now, she wanted to do nothing at all. She was at the end of her strength. When she heard half unconscious, the clicking of claws on the wooden floor, Sophie asked herself for a moment what for a mammal would in some seconds stand in front of her. A wolf, a tiger or maybe even another leopard? She had no idea.

But there he was, red-furred and dressed in a heavy black coat. Sophie awaited a lot, but a fox?

He looked handsome, maybe in his mid-twenties but not older than that. Calm, he looked down at Sophie. It was him, she was sure of it, the same eyes she saw during the shot. Quick, he squatted down beside her and took the gun from Sophie's paw, he was gentle and didn't hurt her. Emerald green eyes looked into eyes that were as yellow as the sun.

"Tell me, Sophie, do you want to live?" The fox asked in a soothing voice.

Tears ran down her cheeks, her lips trembled, but Sophie nodded intensively and replied just with a whispered but definite, "Yes."

Sophie had made her decision, and the world around her went gradually black. She could only feel the heat of the fever and that somebody lifted her up and slowly carried her away. No sound and no talk, just the feeling of being light as a feather in the arms of somebody else. And for the first time in almost a year, the whispering voice in her mind was silenced.

'Oh no, I'm so small and light that even a fox can carry me...how sad is that?' Sophie joked to herself, and her mind went over into a long and deep sleep.

When Sophie Young, a female Leopard of almost thirteen years, opened her eyes again, she had just one thought going through her mind.

'I'm dead. There are no other explanations for what I'm seeing. I must be dead.'

Sophie laid on a couch and looked directly out of a window, which was high above the streets in the center of Zootopia. In front of her was the city at night, illuminated by hundreds of lights and every now and then a rocket flew up into the night sky and exploded into a burst of colors and light. Her senses slowly returned to her, and she tried to sit up. Her headache was still there but much weaker than the last time.

She laid on a red couch, had a thick blanket over her body and as it seemed someone had washed her. Sophie wore now a grey sweater with matching sweatpants but no underwear how it appeared, a fact that made her blush for a moment but when she thought back, she remembered that her clothes were a mess and should better directly be burned until nothing remained.

Instinctively, she wanted to stroke with her left paw over the fur on her head, something she always did after a shower or bath, but the paw was covered in thick white bandages, and it would be of no use for a while.

When she looked closer at the bandage, a small red dot appeared in the middle of it, and the events from the Tannhauser Gate came slowly back to her mind. But to Sophie's surprise there was no grief or sadness. She felt lighter as if someone had lifted a heavy burden from her shoulders; she felt almost free.

Interested in where she was, The young leopard began to look around. She was sure that she was in one of the new skyscrapers which stood in the heart of Zootopia. When Sophie looked around her, she could see bookshelves filled with countless books, an open kitchen which directly went over in the living room area, some old paintings on the wall but no flowers or anything else that made this place personal or even welcoming. Behind the kitchen were some doors but Sophie could just guess to which rooms this would lead. It didn't feel like home for her but it was warm, dry and she had medicine to cure her disease.

'Maybe the fox would let me stay here until I feel better,' Sophie hoped and rested her head back on the pillow behind her.

Directly beside the expensive looking red couch, on which Sophie laid, stood a small table. On it were an orange plastic bottle with antibiotics and one with aspirin. Besides, that stood a steaming pot of tea. The smell of peppermint was all over the room. Without hesitation, Sophie took the big mug and drank some of the hot liquid. It felt great to be finally away from the cold of the streets, even if she didn't know what awaited her. But with this treatment, she seemed to have a different fate than her brother.

To her left was an armchair, in the same color as the couch. In front of it, on the low table of the living room, laid a pile of books, Sophie could read names like Feline physiology, 100

Recipes during a Sickness, The Art of War, and on top of those laid an open copy of Moby Dick. Sophie had never read Moby Dick and wanted to grab for it when she heard that a door opened and two mammals walked into the room. Instinctively, Sophie rushed back under the blanket and pretended to sleep but what the young feline did was listening to the two mammals and watching the firework in the night sky. She could get a glimpse of the other mammal, but she seemed to be a pretty lynx and a little bit older than the fox.

"...It was as always a delight, Adrian." The Lynx said, and it almost sounded as if she was smiling. Whoever she was, she had a very feminine voice but also had a kind of roughness in it. Sophie could hear the sound of a closing zipper and a belt. She blushed when the thought about it.

"The pleasure was also on my sight. I can assure you that much, my dear." The second voice replied, and Sophie knew that it was the voice of the mammal in the Tannhauser Gate. He went on after a little break.

"What do you think, how often do I have to change the bandages?"

"I would say at least daily if you want that it heals properly... you know that I normally stitch together the bodies of dead mammals. And the wound on the paw of the kitten was pretty bad, should it get worse, go to a hospital. Do you hear me, Adrian?" The Lynx sounded worried, and somehow this brought a warm feeling to Sophie.

"Yes, loud and clear, Mina. Please tell me, did your mammals cleaned up the mess in the Tannhauser Gate? One shoot ended in the wall, not that somebody had overseen it." Adrian asked. For a short moment flashed Robert's face back into Sophie's mind, his face all distorted from anger and hate.

"What do you think we are, Adrian, amateurs? They found and cleaned all fifteen shots, collected all cartridge cases, cleaned all the blood from the floor and have his body now in our funeral home. We know our job, Mr. Wilde." The female Lynx replied and sounded a little angry, but just seconds later Sophie could hear only worry where before was her anger, "What happened, Adrian? You never needed more than one shot for a mammal? Never, in all the years, you worked for us, Mr. Big or any other Mobster around Zootopia. But fifteen? That's so unlike you."

More rockets rose up to the sky and when they exploded a sea of colors and lights spread in front of the window. Blue, green, red, gold, purple, all the colors Sophie liked were there, and she couldn't remember where she was the last time, that she saw something so beautiful. Adrian's voice brought her back into reality, and also partly into the past.

"I had shot him one time. The wound that you saw on his shinbone was from me." Sophie listened carefully, she knew precisely about what and whom they were talking but she made no noise and just kept hearing to their words.

"You mean the others are from . . . Her? What did you do Adrian?" The Lynx sounded slightly shocked because of his words.

"I gave her a choice, and that was what she had chosen. If you want to know..." Adrian began but was quickly interrupted by the Lynx, "What? No, no please not now, Adrian. I'm tired, relaxed and satisfied, right now. I don't want to ruin that. . . But what do you want to do with her?"

'Yes, what will he do with me?', Sophie thought, 'Did he feel guilty for what happened? Or does he feel sorry for me? I guess he will not kill me... Why should he give me this medicine and treat me if that were the case? Nothing of this makes any sense. I guess only he can enlighten me.' Sophie thought and concentrated back at the conversation on the floor.

"I will talk with her and decide afterward, but I will tell you about it, maybe after dinner in two days? Then maybe we will have even something else that we can talk about? What do you think, my dear." Adrian asked, and this time his voice sounded very seducing and as if he pushed her against the wall.

Sophie could imagine what happened on the same floor, behind the door that he had entered with the female Lynx and that made her blush because of her thoughts. When Sophie heard it, she felt how a shiver went down her spine, and she could swear that she heard a faint little moan from the female Lynx.

"Adrian . . . Don't do that . . . Ahh - stop . . . Fine, fine. I will tell my aunt to prepare one more dish but be aware that the complete Bell family will be there." The Lynx was breathing heavy, but his voice was back to his normal sound as if nothing ever happened.

"Better ask for two, I've got a little hunch regarding this New Year dinner and I think I will bring a guest. Also, you should know, that I have no problem with your family, you know me . . . I can be very charismatic if I want to be." Adrian said. Sophie couldn't say why but she merely knew he was smiling right then at the female Lynx in front of him.

"I just realized once again how charismatic you could be . . . but you know what my family has against you, Adrian."

"Aren't you the head of the Bell family Minerva? Shouldn't they listen to you?" Adrian said. "Oh, they listen, but they are still afraid of you. And no word about us! You understand?"

"Of course not, especially not to Mr. Bell. Our relationship is just a matter of business, my dear."

"Idiot." The female Lynx said, and another door opened with a creaking sound.

"Before you leave, please don't forget one of the main reasons for your visit, my dear." The fox said, and a small silence between both mammals took place until she continued to speak.

Her voice was now very nostalgic, and Sophie could hear how Adrian searched for something in his pocket.

"This damn ring has only caused me trouble, in all the time. I can't even say how many mammals died because of this stupid piece of metal. Honestly, it would have been okay for me, if it gets lost or destroyed..." The female Lynx replied

"Give me the mission, and I will do it," Adrian replied as if he just waited for another request.

"No! Not now . . . Maybe one day. I guess my family wouldn't be delighted if that happens. But leaving all this crime and business behind, having a normal life. It's a beautiful idea if you ask me . . . But don't tell anybody from my family. Please." The Lynx said and sounded sad.

"As you wish, Mina," Adrian answered.

"Oh and before I forget it. I talked some days ago to your wife. Your daughter lives, Adrian. Emilia said she maybe has a weak heart but a strong will. Listen . . . I don't know what happen that night, and honestly, I don't care why you wanted to get rid of that girl of yours but at least let your wife keep the house. I know that you don't need that." The Lynx said and remained quiet. Sophie couldn't see what happened, but what she could hear was Adrian talking. His voice became emotionless and cold.

"I had my reasons to do that, Mina. Also, I didn't know that you are so close with my wife," Adrian said.

"What do you want to hear, Adrian? I know her since my childhood, we are from the same neighborhood. I would even say that she is a good friend of mine." The Lynx said and sounded angry.

"You forgot to say, that you also shared the same fox, Mina. Is that also something that good friends do?" Adrian replied sharply, and Sophie could feel that something had changed. The almost romantic atmosphere from before was gone.

"I think I should go now. My family will surely not be amused that I was away for such a long time." The Lynx said, and Sophie heard how Adrian helped the female Lynx put on a thick coat.

"Thank you, Adrian. I wish you and the little kitten over there a Happy New Year." The Lynx said and seemed to leave the apartment, but she directed some last words to him, "I hope you'll do right by her...she deserves it, after the things her brother did to her. I see you in two days, Mr. Wilde."

"Also a Happy New Year to you, Mrs. Bell," Adrian replied short and closed the door. Sophie heard him sigh before the fox strolled back towards her.

"Please stop pretending to be asleep, Sophie, I saw you grabbing for a book when I entered my bedroom." The fox said when he walked in front of the young leopard who looked instinctively and embarrassed to the ground.

"I-I'm sorry, Mr. Wilde," Sophie said apologetically, but he didn't seem to mind at all and laid his right paw on her forehead. He wore just the black pants of a suit and a white shirt tucked into his pants. The highest three buttons were open, and Sophie could also see red lipstick on the collar of his shirt, but she thought better to keep this for herself. To her astonishment was Adrian's left paw also in a thick bandage, but she couldn't remember that he hurt himself during the events in the Tannhauser Gate building.

'Maybe he got the wound when he carried me here?' Sophie thought and felt a wave of regret rising inside her.

"How are you feeling, Sophie?" Adrian asked and sat on the low wooden table in front of the couch.

"Better, thank you, Mr. Wilde," Sophie replied and smiled lightly, to which the fox responded with the same smile. The young feline summoned all her courage and said in a shy voice,"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, please ask?" Adrian said with crossed legs and waved with his right paw, waiting for the questions.

"Why did you save me? I-I mean, I don't want to be ungrateful, but it would have been much easier to kill me there or leave me and go. I guess I would be dead by now." Sophie said and inspected the face of Adrian Wilde closely, but she could guess nothing from it. He wore a stone mask, and it was a perfect one, without cracks or mistakes to look behind it. The fox took his time to find an answer.

"The easy answer is, I don't know. At least not exactly." Adrian began to talk, and Sophie tilted her head to listen to him, the answer he gave her made her more than curious.

"Maybe it is because we both saw on different ways how this world truly is, cruel, cold and nothing for weak mammals. We both know how to survive on our own, and we both know that the only one on which we can truly rely on is us. These things, we two have in common." Adrian said, and Sophie saw how his mask began to crumble.

"Maybe it is because I know how it feels to be fooled by the own family. Just like you, I left my family when I was twelve . . . Of course, I understand that your travel began not of your own free will but so did mine but here we are." Adrian said, and Sophie recognized that with every word his mask disappeared more and more.

"Maybe . . . maybe it is because we want the same thing?" Adrian said and looked questioning to Sophie as if he awaited an answer from her but if so, she didn't know the answer nor the question.

"Do we?" The young leopard asked carefully.

"Yes, we do. You said you want to be free and so do I. Unfortunately, I can't because there are forces in this world that forbid me to do as I please. Forces that are old, very old and I want to break them to free me from my chains. My question to you is now, will you help me?" Adrian asked in a calm voice, but Sophie couldn't grasp his thought. Did he really want her help? For what?

"I think, I don't understand. How could I, a small kitten help you? Look at me. I'm just fur, skin and bones...nothing more." Sophie answered and looked apologetically over to him.

"Not now, Sophie. I need your help in the future, and for this, I offer you the privilege to be my apprentice. With the things I would teach you, you could become anything you want, a killer, a mayor, a queen or maybe just a mother. The decision is yours, but I can assure you one thing, a future is nothing that is given to you. It is something you must take for yourself. So, please consider taking this chance that I'm offering you, Sophie, and I promise that you will be one day be free, but then it will be on your terms and conditions." Adrian said and waited patiently for a reply. This time it was Sophie who needed time to think about an answer.

"You saved my life in the gatehouse, because that fact alone I'm incredibly thankful. . . But, you were also honest with me, when no one else was. Even if the truth hurts. . . I-I will accept, under one condition." Sophie said and looked now directly in the eyes of Adrian Wilde.

"And that condition would be?" Adrian asked her.

"Never lie to me about anything, I can handle the truth you give to me, no matter how cruel it truly is," Sophie said with the same determination, with which she replied to her brother in the Gatehouse.

"I promise, but remember one thing. You are the only one; I will give this privilege and no one else. Always remember what this means," Adrian said and began to remove the thick bandages from his left paw, "I also never saved someone. You are in many ways a first time for me. To help you were either the best idea I ever had or the worst. But one thing is clear to me, do not let me regret my decision, Sophie." Adrian said, and Sophie could see red bandages. It was still not healed and seemed to bleed from time to time. With a smile, Adrian looked from his injury up to Sophie, and she understood what he wanted.

"I think it will be best to seal this contract with blood, what do you say?"

Sophie watched how the last layer of white disappeared, and a massive wound over Adrian's paw pad came to light. The cut was deep but clear, and it still seemed to bleed from time to time. Without hesitation, Sophie began carefully to open her bandage. She had no idea what awaited her, but the mess that her brother had left her would probably be no lovely sight. It was the complete opposite of Adrian's wound. Where his injury was a clean cut through flesh,

her wound a mess of something she couldn't identify, that was torn apart and stitched together as best as Mrs. Bell could do. Sophie took Adrian's paw in hers and pressed it firmly.

Adrian seemed pleased with the strength of the handshake and said," When I have reached my goal, or I think it is time for you to go, I will set you free, and you will be on your own. Are you okay with that?"

Sophie nodded, and Adrian parted slowly from the leopard, "And now, we both need new bandages. Mina said one week, then we should proceed with the healing process without the bandages."

The fox stood up and walked over to another table on which laid more medical supplies. Sophie watched how fast he was in changing his bandages, but for her, he took more time. The young Leopard was curious how honest Adrian would be with her and tried to test him for now, not that there was anything else to do for her. And she wanted desperately to know who this mammal exactly was.

"So, the female from before . . . You two are . . . I mean you and her . . . you . . ." Sophie tried but couldn't find the right words without feeling stupid or simple-minded . . . Or kinky.

"We fuck, yes. Are those the words you were looking for?" Adrian asked, and Sophie saw how a slight smile appeared on his muzzle. The answer hit her harder than she thought. Her inner ears turned red, and she could feel how she blushed on her cheeks.  
"Oh, So she is a widow? Because you said, her name was Mrs. Bell?" Sophie asked and hoped to have made the right assumption.

"No, she is still married, has a daughter and you will get to know her boring husband in two days. When we will go to the most infamous mob family of Zootopia for dinner. You need to get accustomed to this kind of society." Adrian answered and finished her bandage, but Sophie still couldn't believe what he just said.

"That . . . That was a joke right?" Sophie asked.

"No, none of this was. I promised you that I would tell you the truth. Didn't I?" Adrian answered and stood up. He disappeared for a moment into the open kitchen, to make himself a coffee. But even from there he spoke on.

"Do you have any more questions?" Adrian asked and filled coffee beans in the machine. Sophie was glad that he didn't stand right now in front of him.

"Did you . . . did you wash me?" Sophie's head was burning, and she could hear a chuckle from the kitchen before he replied,"I bathed you, yes. You were in an unconsciousness state and dirty, what else should I do? And don't worry, I can assure you that I saw nothing, which I hadn't seen before."

"Oh that, yeah . . . Pfft. I don't mind being naked." Sophie lied, but the reaction came immediately, "Don't play the tough one if you don't have the guts to prove it, Sophie."

"I . . .I don't . . . okay." Sophie saw no meaning in replying, but there was still another question on her mind right now, "What forces did you mean?"

"You are too restless, Sophie. I will tell you everything when the time comes. For now, you will rest, sleep and get some flesh on your body." Adrian replied.

Sophie knew he was right and rethought for a moment her situation. Rather quickly she found her old curiosity and looked to the clock, which hung on the wall to her right. It was 11:54 PM, and it was almost the new year. Just a year ago she sat together with her parents and her brother, to wait for the countdown. Right, now all of this appeared so distant and stupid.

'Waiting for a countdown, why had we down something like this. What makes this night different from any other nights. Sitting here, with a mammal I barely know and none of my old family alive.' Sophie thought and continued drinking her tea, while she watched how more and more firework appeared and lightened up over the town. With a steaming cup in his right paw Adrian walked over to the armchair and stood the mug on the edge of the table in front of him. Still, in the same cloth, he sat cross-legged in the recliner, which was designed for bigger mammals than foxes.

"I guess you still have questions?" The fox asked without looking up and leaned forward to take a sip from his coffee.

"Yes . . . You spoke with Mrs. Bell about my . . . Brother and that something should happen with him. What did you mean with that?" Sophie asked while she leaned on the back of the couch, also cross-legged with her tea between her leg.

"Mina... , I mean Mrs. Bell or better known under the name Minerva Bell, is the leader of the Bell family and owner of some local funeral homes. Something that comes pretty handy, especially when you command over an army of mobsters. Anyhow, her mammals brought the body of your brother to the funeral home, you can now decide what will happen with it. A grave, maybe his ashes somewhere in the apartment, I don't care." Adrian replied, but to his astonishment, Sophie quickly gave him her answer.

"Burn him and put the ashes anywhere, I don't care. Dead is dead." Sophie replied cold and looked down into her cup of tea. A small smile flashed over Adrian's face before he replied, "As you wish."

For a moment, Adrian leaned to the left of his armchair and took something, which he handed over to Sophie. Baffled, the leopard looked to the thing in Adrian's stretched out paw. It was apparently a book, wrapped in white paper with a lot of Christmas trees on it. With some hesitation, she took it and laid it in her lap.

"It was initially for Mina's daughter as a Christmas present. Unfortunately, I forgot it here...but I think you will find it quite amusing in your current situation, maybe it will help you to move on...Oh and a happy new year." Adrian said, right then the clock went on to midnight. He grabbed for his version of Moby Dick and continued reading without even having one more glance to Sophie.

"Thank you...and also a happy new year to you." She replied in a low voice, but the fox was already sunken in his book and didn't mind her anymore.

For a while, Sophie didn't know what she should do. She felt wrong in this apartment, it felt wrong sitting here with this fox she barely even knew, and now she should go on with her life as if nothing had changed? Sophie couldn't even cry, because that was what she did the whole last year when she was alone with her thoughts. Right now, she realized that she knew the entire time that her parents were dead, she couldn't admit it to herself. Why should they leave? Death was the only thing that made sense.

And right now, she felt safer and better than the entire previous year . . . Maybe she should really start to move on and rest for now. She looked at the gift in her lap and bit her lip.

'Maybe he is right I should just open it and move on, let's see where it leads me.' Sophie thought and felt a smile on her muzzle.

Like so often, her curiosity won after a short fight with her decency, a battle which never ended in any different way. Interested in what it might be, Sophie unwrapped the book and threw the paper on the table. In her hand laid a hardcover edition of Alice in Wonderland. She knew more or less what it was about but was curious to know more.

Without hesitation, she began to read the quote which stood on the first page of the book. Sophie didn't know if she should cry or laugh about it.

 _"_ _But I don't want to go among mad mammals," Alice remarked.  
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." "How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.  
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here._


	2. The Butcher of Zootopia

The Butcher of Zootopia

Even after twenty minutes under the shower, Sophie couldn't force herself to stop the hot water, which ran right now over her head, body, and fur. She had missed this feeling so much in the last year that she still tried to savor every second in here. After two days of living in this apartment, the urge for a hot shower was still strong. Right now Sophie leaned forward with her head against the wall and enjoyed the warm water against her body. With her head still against the wall, she began to hum a lullaby her mother once hummed for her to make her sleep. She didn't need anything more at the moment, just the heat of the water and she was a happy girl.

Her head turned to the left, and with that, she looked directly at her wounded paw, which was covered with a plastic bag during the shower to keep the water away from the wrappings that were around her paw. She looked at the white bandages and remembered the events that created her new situation. Her new life.

Sophie thought she would have felt guilt until now, for her dead brother but she didn't. Every time she thought about him, it was more the opposite. She felt nothing for him. Maybe the grief would come one day, but not now.

Every day, since she started to live here together with Adrian Wilde, she felt more and more free from the past year on the streets with her brother. Still, it hurt her badly that her parents were dead, killed by an unknown mammal, but somehow she knew it all along. She just didn't want to say it, like she didn't want to look at the lies of her brother or the way how he had treated her.

But the more she stopped surviving in those last days and started again to live, Sophie asked herself more and more, what happened to her parents. Robert said they interfered with a gangster and got killed. But how and by whom? And more importantly, why? If they wanted to give them more money, why should they kill them?

Sophie knew that the Bell family was somehow involved in all of this but how? She had no idea, but maybe she could find out some new information today.

'Don't you want to know what happened? Isn't that why you tried to stay alive in this last year? To find them?' The voice in Sophie's mind asked.

'But I know that they're...no longer here.' Sophie tried to reply.

'Ohh, so you're done? That's it, you'll live your life and forget about them?'

'That's not what I said…'

'But that's what you mean.'

'But...but what can I do? I'm just...me. No one special,' Sophie thought, but there was no reply, just silence and then a hard knock against the bathroom door, that tore her finally out of her daydreams.

"Sophie, thirty minutes until we drive," Adrian said from behind the closed door.

"Okay, I'm almost done," Sophie replied. With her right paw, she turned a knob and the stream of hot water slowly stopped. Instinctively, she then shook her whole body and got rid of most of the water that had gathered in her fur. Stepping out of the warmth of the shower, the female leopard took a yellow towel which hung directly beside a green one. As she was using the yellow towel, a loud sigh of relief escaped her muzzle as she rubbed the rest of her fur dry. Sophie absolutely loved hot and long showers, it was something that made her definitely unique in her species. As everyone knew, felines were supposed to hate water.

She wrapped the yellow towel around her body and took a look around in the sparsely furnished bathroom. Two toothbrushes, again one in yellow and one in green, stood on the sink. Two different kinds of shampoo in the shower, a bathtub, a toilet, a small cabinet and a small mirror on the wall that was in front of the sink. It was all they needed and more than Sophie owned in the last year.

The young Leopard walked out of the bathroom. To her right was the entrance to the apartment and to her left the floor with multiple doors to her room, Adrian's office, and his bedroom, in precisely this order. Sophie couldn't say that the fox had an extravagant lifestyle. Everything was like the bath, reduced to the bare minimum, without leaving room for any needs, if the bare minimum were your needs. The word spartan would fit best for him and the way he decorated his apartment.

It took her just four steps to reach the door to her own room. For a moment she stood with her paw on the doorknob and looked towards the living room. Like the last two days, Adrian was sitting crossed legged in his armchair, a book in his right paw. Moby Dick, the book he had read in the night to the new year was long finished. Right now he was in the last third of a book with the name '1984'. Sophie didn't know what it was about. At first, she thought it was a history book but after a quick glance this morning while Adrian was showering, she saw that it was a science fiction story. Every now and then, Adrian grinned about certain passages. Maybe she would read it after him, a book that made him smile was either funny or disturbing, so much she knew by now, but it would be definitely interesting.

With a quick turn of her right paw she entered her room and looked along the long side of a room shaped like a letter L. Over the whole length of the shorter side of the L was a window from floor to ceiling, that showed Sophie a Zootopia covered in a thick blanket of white. The snow was falling the whole last day and night, but right now it seemed as it had stopped. Sophie remembered that she laid for a long time awake and thought about her situation, what would happen with her and what Adrian wanted from her. What she knew was that he didn't want her, or to be more precisely her body. She knew that such mammals existed, but he seemed to be none of those. Also regarding money was Adrian not interested in her, to be more precisely Adrian wasn't interested in money at all.

Sophie looked at the thick, lime green, and dark-blue checkered dress in front of her. It was long enough that it would even go down to her ankles and she had never owned something like this before. Sophie remembered how they were shopping yesterday in a 'MammalUp' fashion store. It was one the young leopard had never visited before, not with her parents and also not with her girlfriends. After she took a closer look at the prices, she knew why.

The two of them went primarily to buy new cloth for her everyday use, but this dress was the one that grabbed Sophie's special attention the first time she laid her eyes on it. Even after thirty minutes walking around the store, collecting other essential things like jeans, sweater, shirts, and underwear, Sophie turned every now and then in the direction of the dress. It took all of Sophie's courage to finally step closer to the dress. Then she looked at the tag with the price on it and her eyes widened when she saw that it cost $2,500! In an instant, all of her joy about the beautiful piece of clothing was gone.

"It would suit you. Do you want it?" Adrian had said and stepped beside her to take a closer look. His gaze was turned towards the mannequin of a slender mammal which wore the dress at this moment. It could have been a leopard like herself or maybe a cheetah.

"W-what? B-but the price?" Sophie asked back in a shy tone. She didn't want to appear greedy in any way because she knew, what she owed him. However, Adrian walked to the dress, grabbed the price tag and looked with a bored gaze at it.

"Take it, if you like it. The money doesn't matter." Adrian said and turned around to move on. Sophie, however, couldn't believe that he just accepted to buy her something for what her parents would have to work for years to even consider buying it for her. He said that she should take it, just like that. Sophie quickly grabbed it before anyone else could also take a look at it but even more, she knew she would love it.

Now back in her room, up here in the floor of the New Plaza building in the Downtown of Zootopia. Sophie stood dried and just in her underwear in front of the dress, and it felt wrong to take it. Adrian had already done so much for her and then even this. Everything felt so unreal since this day, Adrian said the feeling of strangeness would disappear over time. But she also knew that he was waiting for her, and she didn't want to make him angry.

Sophie took one last deep breath and put the dress on. It was exactly as she had imagined it, long, warm and incredibly soft. She loved it, and for the second time, Sophie smiled at her own reflection in the high mirror. She hadn't seen herself for a while in the mirror, and it felt good to do this.

Ready and still with the smile on her face she walked out of her room and stepped right in front of Adrian to present herself. He, however, closed his book laid it on the table and walked around Sophie, inspecting her from ear to toe. Finally, he stopped in front of her and said, " I told you it would suit you. It's almost perfect."

"Almost?" Sophie asked with a slight disappointment in her voice.

Adrian grabbed her left paw carefully and removed the plastic bag, which was still wrapped around her bandaged wound. It was nothing more than a little detail she had forgotten but somehow she was ashamed of herself.

"Now it's perfect," Adrian said. He gave her a little smile and Sophie forgot her shame and felt happy about this small gesture. It wasn't much but way more than she received in the last year from her brother.

"Come, I hate to be late," Adrian said, and walked to the wardrobe and put on the black jacket of his suit. Sophie followed him, and together they left the apartment, took the elevator to the parking lots and not even five minutes later they drove through the snowy Zootopia. Adrian's car was nothing special, it was useful, not too expensive, too powerful or too exclusive. It was average, even so, Sophie was sure that he could buy and drive anything he wanted.

They drove from their apartment in Downtown to a part of town which would be later known as Bell's kitchen and be a part of the more important district of Savannah Central, which would emerge in a few years at precisely this place. Their specific aim was the home of the infamous Bell family, which owned a massive mansion at the end of the Lions Gate street. This home was partly their main headquarters, partly their living room and partly one of the families funeral homes, from which they had several, spread over the whole city. At least, that was what Adrian had told her.

The whole city was under a thin blanket of snow, and Sophie felt that her hate for the white stuff was, now wrapped in a warm dress, coat and with the option of a bed at the end of a day, no longer burning in her heart. Right now she felt more than calm that the snow emitted and a slight feeling of finding her place in life. For one year she was just the lonely girl who had after tragic events to wander around town without ever finding a place to stay or a mammal to whom she belonged. For a short moment, she glanced at Adrian and had to smile.

'Maybe he can be my family, at least he was good to me and didn't lie...no matter how awful the truth was he told me,' Sophie thought and turned her head with a deep sigh of relief from the fox over to her window.

When they stopped at a red light in front of the City council, Sophie's gaze went to a young buffalo in a bright orange vest walking from car to car and checked the parking meters. He didn't seem to be happy with his task, but he was doing it nonetheless. Just for a moment, Sophie could swear that the buffalo had caught her gaze. When she realized, that they were the only car at the traffic light, she knew he was directly looking at her. For a short moment were his and her gaze locked to each other. Without any shame or hesitation, she smiled at him. The young buffalo, who was just some meters away from their car seemed to chuckle and smiled back before, the traffic light switched to green, and their journey continued. Sophie didn't know why she did it, she just felt it was the right thing to do, or maybe it was just a reflex, but no matter what it was it made her feel better. She knew it was something she wouldn't have done if she was still living on the street. Out there, her only thought was how to survive, how to get some food and where to find a shelter for the next night. Those days were over but she still knew how it felt to survive and at any cost.

They drove past a lot of old buildings, some of them already on edge to collapse others still in use but in no good condition. The town had soon to decide what action it should take to do something against this massive amount of old buildings in the center of Zootopia. The population wanted to grow, but those relics of the past had to go first. There were a lot of ideas from even more mammals in the city council but none of them could assert himself or his plan. Right now Zootopia was a prisoner of its own stagnation and if there was something that Adrian Wilde hated more than anything, it was stagnation.

After twenty minutes of driving, they finally reached the mansion of the Bell family. Adrian parked the car on the public parking lot of the funeral home, which was right now wholly deserted. The snow which had stopped this morning had started again to fall. The red fox who didn't speak during the whole drive turned off the engine. Sophie knew already that Adrian hated to talk when he was driving, and so she waited until the engine was entirely off and she waited until he asked her something.

"Before we go in there we have to talk, Sophie. This one will be the first but nonetheless most important lesson of all, but it will also be the one which is the hardest to learn," Adrian said and looked now directly to Sophie. The young leopard felt how his gaze laid heavy on her and how he studied every movement of her facial expression. A deliberate nod came from Sophie and Adrian continued.

"What do you think am I? Or what do you think I want you to become?" Adrian asked, and this time Sophie answered hesitantly.

"A...killer," she answered, but it sounded more than a question. All she could hear in response was a chuckle from him that made her even more uncomfortable, "...did I say something stupid?"

"No, no...It's just funny how others see me," Adrian replied amused. It took him a short moment to concentrate back on the task. While the young leopard waited for the reply, she recognized that it became slowly dark in the car, the falling snow covered now almost the whole front window.

"What we do and what I'll teach you is to reach a goal. We don't care for casualties, public damage or reputation, the goal – or job is all there is. And to reach our goal, we have to take on different roles. These roles are our most important weapon, not knives, not guns or poison. Those are just gadgets we use to reach the goal. You see, I can't teach you to be invincible or have incredible strength, but I can teach you certain things to play a role in a certain community or to become invisible or simply to be someone else. And yes, sometimes we have to kill a mammal, sometimes we have to gather information and sometimes we have to protect someone. To call us killers wouldn't come close to what we really are. You could call a chief a killer because he or she had to kill a fish, a lobster or any other animal for the dish but it wouldn't do the chief's name justice. Do you understand, Sophie?" Adrian asked.

"I guess... I….No, we need to act in front of other mammals...hide who we really are to reach our goal. Is that...is that about right?" Sophie asked carefully. She didn't want to make another mistake like before. Slowly appeared a smile on Adrian's face. Sophie knew that she was no dumb girl. Even in school, she was always one of the best in her class and mostly without doing a lot of work like any of her disciplines, and she was for sure better than Sarah Evans, that annoying Hedgehog girl that always sat in the first row of the room. Well, back then...in her other life from before.

"Correct. When we enter this fancy old mansion, you will address me either with Sir or Kingfisher. In there, your role will be that you are my apprentice, which wouldn't even be a lie. Just when we two are alone, we are again Adrian and Sophie to each other," Adrian said, his face was as hard as a rock. The temperature in the car has dropped by now so much that Sophie could see her own breath and snow covered by now like a thick blanket the front window. Her eyes were still locked on his.

"Yes, Sir."

Sophie replied, and a proud smile emerged on Kingfisher's face.

"Good girl. It seems I made no mistake with you," Kingfisher answered, his gaze still at Sophie.

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course. Ask," Kingfisher replied and made a gesture with his right paw that signaled her to continue.

"What...what is my name? I think I'll feel...strange if I stand in front of other mammals and couldn't tell them a name. Or should I just address myself as your apprentice? Even that seems strange...Sir," Sophie said and waited for his reply. The red fox took his time before he replied.

"First thing, when we two are alone you can always call me Adrian. Second and with this conclusion you're totally right. You need a name and at best one which connects you immediately to me," Kingfisher said and looked over to his apprentice before a smile came across his muzzle.

"You're light, you're fast, and you're small. I already thought about a name for you and something that would fit mine. I would say Hummingbird will do the job just perfectly, but only if you have nothing against it of course," Adrian said and waited for a reply.

'Hummingbird...That's the pretty green bird, which I saw once with my class. That was in one of the greenhouses for biology class,' Sophie remembered and thought back at her time in school. For a moment she asked herself if she could maybe go back to school. Perhaps if she asked him carefully, Adrian would probably agree?

Sophie liked the name and also the bird that was connected to her from now on. Even a slight blush was on her cheek, but it was, of course, one that the fox couldn't see.

"I like it, and it also fits my dress," Sophie said. She instantly regretted the words the moment they had left her muzzle. It was the answer a child would give, but she felt that she was no longer a child, at least she knew she was everything but not innocent. Not since the Tannhauser Gate. Not since Robert died because of her. Kingfisher looked for a moment dazzled at her, it was apparently an answer he didn't want to hear from her, but to Sophie's surprise. Kingfisher started to chuckle.

"Haha, yeah...You're right, you really do resemble a Hummingbird. Now, it's time to flap your wings, tiny bird." Adrian replied, closed his dark cloak and stepped out of the car for middle-sized mammals. Sophie followed immediately, and the first thing she did was to take in the new surroundings. They were the only ones who parked here on the parking lot of the funeral home, which was over a glass passageway directly connected to the large mansion of the Bell family. Sophie couldn't see much of the three-floor great villa which should be by now mostly covered in a thick coat of snow, and a quick glance at the sky showed her that even more would arrive soon. Slowly they started to walk towards the front gate, alongside little cut bushes and small trees.

"One last thing, before we enter the 'festivities,' that you should always keep in mind." Adrian began and turned to Sophie, who was a little bit afraid about the sudden change in his voice. An emotion which became even stronger when he laid his right paw on her shoulder to make her stop.

"Wherever you are, please be careful. I'll do my best to be around you but...you know, just in case that things happen that none of us can foresee," Adrian said and turned his gaze away. Sophie understood of course what he meant and began to smile. She was quite flattered that he worried about her, the last time when someone cared about her was already over a year in the past. And she had to admit that it felt good, even if it was from a fox whom she just met a few days ago.

"Thank you...," Sophie replied and looked up to Kingfisher who already switched back to his serious face, "Don't forget your main task today."

"What would that be...Sir?" Sophie asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"To watch and learn. And don't forget, chose a role to play and stick to it, internalize it and finally make it your own. And this of course," Adrian said and dropped a metal object in the palm of her right open paw.

"A...knife? You really trust no one in there?" Sophie asked and let the small knife disappear in the right pocket of her dress.

"I trust you...which already means trusting one mammal more than I normally do," Kingfisher replied and walked on. His eyes were only directed at the main entrance of the mansion.

A cold shiver went down Sophie's spine when she stood almost in front of the gate to the mansion and could now take a better look at the massive house. The building looked a lot like the mountain lodge she visited just some days ago. Dark wood, granite, and strong wooden pillars created a feeling of loneliness. Sophie's memories about the night in the Tannhauser Gate suddenly came back to her. She could see her brother laying on the floor, taking his last breath, smelling the blood on the floor and all the wood around her. It was dark and cold. And the snow fell slowly to the ground, just like today.

It was Adrian, who finally brought her out of her waking nightmare. Carefully, he laid his right paw on her shoulder and asked, "Are you alright?"

"Y-yes, just...just some bad memories. I'll be alright."

Adrian nodded. Sophie took a deep breath to come down. Her feet moved on, and she tried to ignore the resemblance this place had to the Tannhauser Gate as good as she could.

'It's just a wooden mansion, nothing more. Stupid kitten, you know that places can't hurt you…,' Sophie thought. Like in the shower, she heard the voice she often heard in the last year, while she was on the streets.

The voice inside of her head then said, '...but mammals can, my dear. Your brother did.'

'But not him, he will protect me, I know it. He is different.'

'Oh, is he? He wouldn't be the first to turn on you,' the voice replied coldly and then remained silent. With a hanging head, Sophie followed the fox. Together they walked up a stairway towards a heavy wooden door. When Sophie took a look to her right, she saw a lot of black cars in different sizes and length standing there together with mammals who kept watch over them in dark suits. Bobcats, tigers, mountain lions, deer, and bears stood around the vehicles and watched each other with suspicious looks. Sophie had no idea what that meant and turned to Kingfisher.

"I thought just the Bell family would be here today?"

"Oh, they are. What you see over there are the other families who work as subordinates for the Bell family," Kingfisher replied. Instinctively, Sophie grabbed for the knife to check if it was still there. As soon as she touched the metal with her right paw, escaped a deep sigh her muzzle.

Three heavy knocks, that was all Kingfisher did, and Sophie began to watch him. His until now expressionless face changed to one with a slight smile on it. His paws until now in the side pockets of his coat moved to his back, where they found each other and remained. The changes were subtle, but Sophie guessed that they were enough to fool some mammals.

The door opened, and a male lynx with thick glasses, a Tweed jacket and brown cord trousers stood in front of them. To Sophie, he seemed like an office worker who had his single little space at the end of the floor, someplace where no one disturbed him, and everyone who did would get the same friendly smile from him, that he smiled right now and probably the question if you want a cup of tea. He didn't look like one of the bad guys from the movies she sometimes watched with her father or how she would imagine a mobster and Sophie was relieved that there were apparently also such mammals in this house. She thought that he could be a service mammal of the Bell family or maybe a brother of Mrs. Bell.

"David! How are you doing and how is the family?" Adrian said ecstatically and slapped his right paw in a playful manner.

"Where are my manners? David, this young and adorable lady is my apprentice Miss Hummingbird. Miss Hummingbird this is David Bell. You already know his wife, Mrs. Bell. She was the one who stitched up your paw."

Sophie was afraid that her jaw would drop for a moment but she keep control. Just her eyes revealed her astonishment. Also, Sophie has never met Mrs. Bell but she had this image of a fabulous Lynx in her mind. Unfortunately, this mammal in front of her matched in no way an image of a partner that would fit her. It was a difference between day and night.

Shyly and with some restrictions in his movements David Bell raised his paw to shake the one of Sophie.

"I'm glad to meet you M-miss Hummingbird," David said. Sophie's reaction came quick, her astonishment was slowly vanishing, but the cold feeling of the winter crept slowly up her legs. And she was sure that inside was somewhere a warm place for her.

"And it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Bell," Sophie replied and made a little courtesy.

"What for a well behaved young lady. Please come in you two." David said, letting them in the large and already warm entrance room of the Bell mansion. As soon as he had to talk to the still smiling Kingfisher, David stumbled over his own voice while he tried to articulate a sentence.

Sophie still couldn't believe that this mammal should be the husband of the mobster queen of Zootopia. Even she remembered the rumors about the Bell family, from her time at school. Not about Minerva Bell but about her mother, Elisabeth Bell. Bloody Beth was the name the press gave her after an extremely gruesome fight against another family, which she won of course but since then nobody in town questioned her reign about the underworld as the leading mammal.

But this mammal, this lynx in front of her was so far from being a mobster like nobody else. She couldn't imagine how someone like him would command criminals. Hell, she couldn't even believe how he should control her, and she was nothing more than an almost-thirteen-year-old kitten.

"Well...you know, I'm no part of the 'business' of my wife...so, ehmm...yes, I'm just the messenger here...Mina wants to see you... immediately and, only you, King. Sorry, Miss Hummingbird but you have to stay for a while with the other guests in the Billard room." David said and lowered his head as if he would await a punishment. Kingfisher still smiled and replied, "No, problem. I guess this will not take too long."

Kingfisher turned his head to Sophie and asked rhetorically, "You're fine on your own for a while?"

"Yes, Sir," Sophie replied, and she could see a little smile in his eyes, and she knew this was meant just for her.

"Good girl," Kingfisher replied and turned with a smirk to David, "I guess she is in her study room?"

David nodded, and Kingfisher gave him his black coat, which he took with a friendly but also shy smile on his lips. The red fox walked in his black suit slowly down the floor.

"Try not to attract any trouble, Hummingbird...or to shoot someone while I'm gone." The fox said and disappeared behind a corner.

"Trouble... hehehe. Kingfisher is always such an entertaining fellow."

To her own surprise, Sophie began to stare at the lynx and wanted to almost to say something but in the end, it was just her mind that spoke the words.

'He has no idea who this mammal is or what he's capable of. How can someone be so...blind.' Sophie thought but remembered her own blindness immediately. How could she blame someone like him, if she wasn't any better?

Sophie sighed and gave him her dark blue coat. The Lynx smiled just at her and said, "Please follow me, Miss Hummingbird."

Even inside the house, everything was built with a dark wood. Sophie didn't know why but she quite liked the house and after a while, she also knew why. One table they passed stood a fresh and beautiful looking bouquet of flowers matching to the room he was in. After the entrance hall, they came to a place with two large staircases on each side. To the side of the two large staircases, both Sophie and the Lynx stopped in front of a sliding door, which contained on each side a colorful window of glass that looked like a summer landscape.

Sophie saw movement through the colored glass, and for a moment her heart began to beat faster in her chest. Her mind went blank, and she couldn't imagine how the entire leading class of Zootopia's underworld would look like.

"Please, enjoy yourself while you're waiting for the dinner. Maybe you can talk to some of the other guests until Kingfisher is back from his talk with my wife," David said and opened the doors. For a moment all eyes in the room were focused on Sophie. Heat spread over her whole face and she feared that her heart would jump out of her chest if it would beat any faster. But then she remembered what Adrian had told her.

'...chose a role and play it.'

'Nobody knows you, kitten. Try for once to be somebody completely else...Hey? Why don't you try to show some confidence?' The voice said, and Sophie thought that this wasn't even the worst idea.

'Right. Nobody knows me, I can do and be whoever I want...but I should try to be no shame for Adrian.' Sophie thought, and a full and friendly smile appeared on her muzzle.

With two more steps, she was in the room, and the first thing she did was to make a bow. What followed was an energetic greeting of every mammal in the place.

"A good day to everyone and I hope we'll have a nice time together!"

No one reacted besides a chuckle she heard from one of the windows. For the first time, she could take a good look at the mammals in the room, which was more a parlor with a bar, a fireplace, multiple tables, chairs, armchairs, and an extremely comfortable looking couch, except for the present mammals of course.

To her left was a pool table, on which a mountain lion and a bobcat played a round of pool. The bobcat seemed to lose with a grim face and just when she walked by, Sophie recognized a third mammal, a hyena who stood in the corner and watch the game. In front of the fireplace sat a deer with large antlers in an equally large armchair, as soon as Sophie looked to him, he turned his gaze back to the book in his claws and shook his head.

At this point, Sophie laid her paws on her back and began walking through the room. Her gaze was stuck for a while on the beautiful and tight dress of a tigress who sat together with a snow leopard and another tiger at a table in front of the bar. They spoke with each other in a foreign language, which Sophie couldn't understand. All of them were drinking tea and were watching the young leopard with interest. Besides the tigress on another table sat two large polar bears. Each of them on one side of a table. It took Sophie more than one attempt to recognize that on the table sat in a little armchair a shrew, who seemed to drink something. The shrew was also talking to the bears but the two just replied by nodding back to him.

The parlor was almost entirely crossed, and Sophie had still no idea where she should sit. To her bewilderment, she saw that in front of one of the windows and almost in the corner of the room, a red panda in a black suit sat at a table. He smiled over to Sophie, but what was more important, he waved her over to him.

For a moment she looked around her, confirming that there couldn't be any mistake that he meant her. And as it seemed he really did. By now Sophie's presence was more a common fact that no one in the room seemed to be interested in anymore.

Trying to show some confidence, Sophie walked over to the smiling mammal, folded her paws in front of her dress and looked with a smile down to him.

"Yes, Sir?"

"You seem to be a little bit lost in this small but exclusive community, little Miss. Tell me, do you want to accompany me a little bit until the dinner is served. I'm sure I can be quite interesting for you, " The red panda asked, who sat on a chair with some steps on it to make it easier for him to climb. He seemed harmless to Sophie, and because of that, she decided to join him, at least until Kingfisher would come back to her.

"It would be my pleasure...but why me?" Sophie asked confused. For a moment the smile on his fluffy face became even, and Sophie saw how young the Red Panda really was. He couldn't be much older than Kingfisher or maybe even younger. Twenty but not older than twenty-four.

The voice of the Red Panda became stronger, and she instinctively knew that he wanted everyone in the room to know to whom she belonged.

"It's interesting to see that a mammal like Kingfisher took in as an apprentice...and then also such a young one. To whom do I have the honor?" The red panda said, his smile vanished not for one second. The reaction of the other mammals in the room was different from the one of the red panda, and it wasn't what Sophie expected. All their at first questioning gaze about who she was turned to an uneasy one, almost...fearful. Sophie tried to ignore them, but it seemed that Kingfisher wasn't the typical gangster, somehow he seemed to be different than the others.

"Hummingbird is my name...but how do you know that I'm here with Kingfisher?" Sophie replied well keeping her smile. She couldn't deny that she was now interested in the smaller mammal.

"Hummingbird, well what for a fitting name for such an adorable young lady. And to me and my persona, let's just say it's my work and daily life to know things about a lot of mammals in this world. My name is Void, and it's nice to meet you, Miss Hummingbird." The red panda said and stretched his paw out. Sophie shook it without second thoughts. After she sat down on the other side of his table, a young lynx approached them, who was dressed as a servant and also had the equally good manners of one.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" The servant asked and looked from Void over to Hummingbird, where his gaze lingered for a moment. When his cocoa-colored eyes laid on her, Sophie couldn't deny to herself that he was young, not much older then she was herself and good-looking. His eyes on her made her feel a little bit uneasy but also somehow happy. It was a combination she never felt before when a male mammal looked at her.

"I-I would take some c-cranberry juice if that's no problem for you," Sophie said with some small interferences in her voice and saw that the servant was smiling slightly to her. Even if her voice broke a bit, she tried her best to sound confident. Sophie also guessed he wasn't used to having someone ask if it was okay to order a particular drink, especially something easy like cranberry juice.

"Of course, Miss," the lynx said and turned to Void, "And for you, Sir?"

"A light white wine would be great. Maybe a Riesling?" Void asked with a smirk.

"Good choice, Sir," The lynx replied smiling and went back behind the counter of his bar. When she looked after him, Sophie just realized how many colorful bottles stood behind him on a glass shelf. When her gaze wandered from the alcohol to him, she could see that he was smiling to her, while he worked on their drinks. And just when Sophie wanted to turn her embarrassed look back to the red panda, winked the young feline servant of the Bell family over to her and only to her. This time she was sure of it.

This smile with this wink, it could just be for her. But why? Did he like her? Or...or did he just wanted to fool her? He was some years older she guessed. No adult

'I...I should ignore him, yes that would be probably the best for now,' Sophie thought, and she tried desperately to switch her attention back to the red panda who still sat smiling beside her.

"He's a cutie, isn't he? That's Gregory Bell's grandson, Thomas Bell. All his pride and joy…so you should be careful if you want to come closer to him," Void said with the dirtiest smile Sophie ever saw on a mammal.

"Wh-what do you...Ohh...No, I don't want to…," Sophie stuttered in defense, but she couldn't articulate a real sentence that would have made any sense. With ears turned back so that nobody could see them light up in bright red color, Sophie turned her gaze to the folded paws in her lap, where she massaged eagerly with her right paw the fingers of her left one. A habit she had since she awoke and knew she couldn't scratch her itching wound. It wasn't perfect, but it brought her some relief.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Hummingbird. This tongue of mine is sometimes sharper than a razor blade, and I should better learn to keep it under control," Void replied, still grinning and still watching her with his small black eyes.

"What do you say, Hummingbird? Can I give you a little overview of the guests who attend the festivities today?" Void asked it was this moment that the young servant with name Tom, came back to their table with a tablet. One high glass filled with red juice and an almost too big wine glass for Void, which was half filled with white wine that seemed to have a light green tone.

"Thank you, Tom," Void said, and Thomas Bell nodded in reply, but it was Sophie on which his gaze lingered until she finally lifted her eyes up to him. And there it was again, another little wink with his left eye and yet it was just meant for her.

The blood, which just came to rest in her, spread the heat again all over her face. If she had known where the bathroom was she would have gone there and taken some deep breaths, but this was no option at the moment. Instead, she took a deep swallow from her drink and noticed that it was fresh made juice and not the one she knew from the supermarket. It tasted good, but she would still prefer the supermarket one over this.

"Well, it seems that he likes you too, " Void began but changed the topic immediately, when he saw Sophie's gaze, "...my apologies. I promised to keep my tongue under control, so I'll do this. Now, Miss Hummingbird about whom do you want to know something?"

"At first, I...I would like to know something about you. To which family do you belong to?" Sophie said, and it was the first time that Void lost his smile. He searched her face as if the question was some kind of trick or a trap the red panda could walk into. It took him a whole minute to understand that this really was just a question and nothing more.

"Excuse me, Miss, It's rare that someone asks me this question. You see, normally everyone knows who I am and what I do the moment I tell them my name. Void, that's all they have to know, and the question about me is gone, but it seems Kingfisher didn't tell you about the God's Paw or me," Void said and grabbed for his glass of wine, taking a big swallow of it.

"The God's Paw? I never heard of it and how can others know about you...well, you seem to be very young," Sophie replied.

"At first, thank you, Miss Hummingbird, for this correct and flattering note. Second, they know about me or better us because there is a group of us in every bigger town of this world. Money, information, special...let's call it 'services', that's what we provide. It doesn't matter if it's Zoo York here in North Mammalia, Oxford in Midland or Buena Tierra down in South Mammalia. Name a town with at least one million mammals, and I can promise you that we're already there. In each town is always one group of us, always four members and those four have always have the same names. Void, Conrad, Ubik, and Slane. I give you a good advice, remember them. Maybe you'll need them one day when you're in a dangerous situation," Void explained and took another big sip from his wine.

"So...you're something like a Burger Pride restaurant for organized crime, right?" Sophie replied and felt incredibly dumb after she saw how Void looked with an open muzzle and confused gaze at her. Some seconds passed until the red panda started to chuckle, which developed fast into loud almost maniac laughter, which provoked even some other mammals in the parlor to turn their gaze around to them.

"Hahaha...I have no idea where Kingfisher found you, but in comparison to him, you are funny. Pure gold. To compare the Gods Paw with a worldwide operating fast food franchise… genius and also not so far from the truth." Still chuckling, Void drank the last bit of wine from his glass, but Sophie looked still confused at him. There was still a question on her mind because something didn't fit together about the things that Void told her or better it was missing.

"But if there are always four of you in every town then who commands you? I mean… Someone has to lead and make decisions?" Sophie said and emptied her own glass. Somehow, she couldn't precisely say what changed, but Void seemed now almost to be serious, and his joking attitude was gone for the moment.

"Funny and smart. Kingfisher made a good choice by taking you in, but the answer to this question is one I can't give you."

"Why not?" Sophie insisted and was now eager to hear the answer.

"Because first of all, this is the best-kept secret of our organization and second...you wouldn't believe me anyway. But enough about me and my daily work, let's take a look at the bad boys of this town. Shall we?"

For a moment, Sophie was eager to continue the conversation, but she saw that Void wanted nothing more than to change the topic. He wasn't the type of guy who would instantly try to kill her if she insisted but she also didn't want to appear impolite.

'I should keep this in mind and ask Adrian about them later,' Sophie thought and nodded to Void. A simple sign to show him that he can proceed and he did, instantly.

"I guess you observed the cute servant boy more than enough by now, I'm sorry just a little joke between us two, so let me give you an overview of the Zootopia underworld," Void said and looked around the room. Like a little kid, he couldn't decide which criminal he should introduce first. When he made his decision, he leaned with his left elbow on the table and held his paw in front of his muzzle. Like Void, Sophie leaned closer to him, she wanted to hear every word he was about to say. And also she had to admit that she was scared about all the mammals in the room, she couldn't hide the fact that this all was incredibly thrilling for her.

"You see the tigress on the table, with the two other felines?"

"Yes."

"That's Yu Yan Gao, the matriarch of the Gao family. She is in control of the western part of the town, which means most of the little islands and the woods are her territories. The whole Gao family hate any kind of guns and fire weapons, but I can assure you that their paw-to-paw has proven to be very effective."

"What do they do?"

"Oh, the usual stuff... drug dealing, protection money, and so on and so on. Don't overthink their work, all of them have their paws deep in the mud of crime, and that's not the interesting part, what's interesting is that Yu Yan only has felines within her own ranks. She distrusts everyone who is not a cat. Honor and duty, those are the two things Yu Yan embodies like nobody else in the Zootopia underground and she was one of the first who had sworn her loyalty to Elisabeth Bell. As different as the two were, Yu Yan always admired the Queen of Zootopia and is also loyal to Minerva, but she hates every other mobster boss in town from the depth of her heart. But like I said, she likes felines, maybe you could work for her if Kingfisher has taught you everything he knows. She's always on the lookout for new and promising members."

"May...maybe but I'm quite glad where I am now. But tell me Void, to whom belong the polar bears at the bar?"

"Oh, those are the members of Mr. Big. He is the youngest boss of Minerva Bell's Entourage."

"But where is he? "

"Ohhh, he is the arctic shrew who sits between the polar bears, on the little armchair and on the counter of the bar."

"Ohh...He is...not what his name promises."

"Tse, Miss Hummingbird, I'm a little bit disappointed. Can you fly or live only of the nectar of flowers? I think not, so please, never mistake the heights of a mammal and his power…...The smallest of us can have the mightiest impact on the world, never forget that."

"Oh...okay, I'll keep it in mind."

"Good girl…and now back to our little overview...Where was I?"

"You talked about this Mr. Big."

"Oh yes, of course. Anyhow, Big's territory is the east, the docks and some smaller parts of the southern town districts. Like I said he is the youngest member and still needs to grow, but he seems to know how to rule without being too brutal or too weak. A mammal who knows the meaning of respect, I tell you."

"Understood...And who are the mammals on the pool table?"

"The mountain lion, in the cheap looking white suite and that exaggerated silk shirt, is Diego Ortiz. He's the leader of the Ortiz cartel. Originally, he comes from South Mammalia, where his family owns a lot of lands and on which they cultivate not just coffee beans if you get my hint. Anyhow, his family produces those goods in South Mammalia, ships it to Zootopia and sell it on the streets, well if…"

"If?"

"If Mr. Big gets his part of the money."

"What has Mr. Big to do with the Ortiz Cartel?"

"As I said, Big owns the docks in the east and with this the easiest way to transport the drugs of the Ortiz Cartel into the city. He knows about every shipment, whether it comes or goes and he wants to be paid for the fact that everything works without problems. Because of this and the southern districts, which are controlled by Big, is the relationship between both… let's say difficult."

"The mobster of this city don't seem to get along very well with each other."

"Oh Miss Hummingbird, believe me, this is an understatement. What I told you are just the big problems but behind the scenes happens even more fighting. Only the power of the Bell family is keeping this city away from the brink of more crime and violence. But for now to our last member. Dr. Theodor Kruger. He is the grumpy looking deer with the huge antlers."

"When I entered the room, he doesn't even look me in the eyes."

"Yes, yes. Our Doctor has some problems with 'exotic' mammals, like you and me. He comes from central Midland and as it seems was he there responsible for some new laws which declared the purity of certain species and the discrimination of smaller mammals, which are for him not worthy to take part in the normal social life of a town. I think I don't have to explain that these new laws were rejected because of stupidity. Shortly after, all of his laws were thrown into the garbage, where they belong. The poor doctor had to leave his hometown Hirschberg and came, unluckily for us, to Zootopia. Since then he became a member of the city council and has his claws into some worrisome activities around mammal trafficking and the sale of land in the north. You have to know that he owns the mountains in the north and the barren meadowlands behind those."

"I don't like him…," Sophie said and looked with a scornful look over to the deer.

"And neither do...It's good to know that we're on the same page regarding this mammal, Miss Hummingbird," Void said with a small, almost not recognizable smile and leaned back into his armchair, folding his paws, "Even Kruger, the old speciest deer, isn't the main problem at the moment. What's problematic is the situation inside the Bell family itself."

"Why's that?"

"What do you know about Bloody Beth?"

"You mean Elisabeth Bell, right? The mobster queen of Zootopia?"

"Exactly her."

"I guess, I know what everybody else knows. That she was the first one who organized the crime in this city and that in the end, even the ZPD stopped chasing after her. Oh, and I know that she died some time ago...but that's all," Sophie said, and Void nodded to every information she could give.

"Not bad, Miss Hummingbird. The main problem right now is Bloody Beth's younger brother, who is known to the most mammal of this town just as the Butcher of Zootopia."

"The...butcher? That sounds gruesome."

"Oh, it is my dear. Gregory Bell is one of those who doesn't know when to quit. He's impulsive, he's violent, and he loves to torture his enemies and everyone who fell in disgrace before him. In short, he's no one you want to meet in a dark alleyway at night. I guess you could almost call him a savage."

A cold shiver went down Sophie's back when she heard those words from the red panda, and she remembered in which home she was and who belonged to the new community, she was now also a part of.

'Maybe...Maybe I'm better on my own because this seems to be extremely dangerous.' Sophie told herself, but the answer came immediately, 'And then what? Do you want to live again on the streets?'

'It's better than dying through the paw of another mammal…,' Sophie replied the voice in her head but the voice had just woken up and was far from over, 'Did you forget that you almost died on the streets? Or what is with this one time where you were almost raped? Adrian gave us a chance, a real chance. And not just false promises like our brother! You know life is hard, if out there or in here there is just one difference and this difference is Adrian who gave us an option! Before that, we had nothing or do you think you'll find out who killed your parents by walking around downtown and trying not to starve to death or freeze to a solid block of ice?'

'No...but,' She tried to reply, but she felt that her voice of reason was right. At least if she wanted to go on and live, 'You know I'm right.'

"Ms. Hummingbird?" Void asked carefully.

"Yes, I...I'm okay. I was just lost in thought for a second. But please, continue. I like to hear the rest from you," Sophie replied and smiled to signal him, that he could go on with his story.

"Very well… You see, the main problem is that Elisabeth Bell gave shortly before her death all her power, not to her younger brother but her daughter Minerva. As you can imagine, Gregory didn't like this and since then is a constant fight going on between those two. I'm also sure that the whole story would have been escalated by now, if Kingfisher wouldn't be on Minerva's side," Void said and looked out of the window beside him to watch thick white snowflakes fall to the ground of the large garden, in which stood all sorts of bushes and smaller trees.

"Do you think Gregory is afraid of him?" Sophie asked and heard how the red panda chuckled about her question.

"Darling, everyone in the Zootopia underworld is afraid of Kingfisher. Some because of his work here in Zootopia, others because of rumors about him from other towns, far, far away but all of them are sure about one fact. He is not someone who should be taken lightly."

"Are you afraid of him?" Sophie asked as innocent as she could, and for a moment his complete facial expression was gone. Void searched again and seemed to think if he should tell what he really thought or if he should tell a lie. In the end, it appeared that he didn't saw Sophie as a danger and began again to talk, but this time he was way more severe.

"Five years ago walked a young fox without retraceable history from the deck of a cargo ship in the docks of Zootopia. The origin of the ship was the eastern town Izumo, in which not even two weeks before his arrival some terrible crimes happened in which a lot of mammals died, all committed by a young fox who, if we believe the local police of Izumo, was never caught or even identified. On the same day, this mammal came to Zootopia, he bought a house — cash. Nobody knows where this money came from or how much he owns. When he joined Elisabeth Bell's he did this on his own terms, something she allowed no one but him. I was a new citizen of this town myself and not even one year a member of the God's paw in Zootopia. I saw him take down mammals twice his size and kill other during his missions without regret or mercy. And now you ask me if I'm afraid of him? The better question is if you're not afraid of him, Miss Hummingbird."

"No," Sophie replied and looked deeply into Void's small black eyes but only saw fear in them. Her answer was honest and spoken without hesitation because for her it was an unbreakable truth. She didn't fear him, not even for one second.

"Then... you're a braver mammal than any other in this town, I believe. Far braver than me and even braver than Gregory Bell. Even he…," Void began but was interrupted by the opened sliding door on the other side of the room and besides the bar. A mammal stumbled fast into the room and fell face first to the ground, muttering to himself. All eyes in the parlor went to the mammal which held his paws over his head.

"Please, merci...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry," the mammal whimpered not even three meters away from Sophie. Paralyzed by fear, Sophie stared at the Hyena in front of her but was unable to move let alone help the mammal on the ground.

'What in the name of the three goddesses happened here,' she asked herself but couldn't find any appropriate answer. Not even two seconds later and a deep and roaring voice bellowed towards the mammal on the ground, but all eyes went to the source of the sound.

"You filthy maggot. Do you really think I let you snooping around in my house and steal something from my family? Mmh?"

The voice belonged to a vast and old lynx, who stepped into the parlor and began to take off his suit jacket, laying it on the counter of the bar. His fur was grey and told everyone who looked at him for a while that this he was already a long time on this planet, but his eyes were still full of energy.

"P-please...no more...," the shaking hyena begged, but none of the mammals in the room reacted. Not knowing where she should look, Sophie turned her gaze asking to Void. The red panda saw with a cold expression the question written all over her face. Slowly but understandable formed Void the words with his lips and Sophie felt how a shiver run down her spine when she finally realized what he meant.

"The Butcher"

Gregory Bell was now almost in front of her, his white shirt arms were tucked up to his elbows, and he circled around the hyena, down to his feet, like prey. His yellow eyes gleamed with anger and joy about the mammal below him.

"Merci, Sir. Ple-…," the bundle on the floor cried, but the butcher growled while he showed his teeth. A hard kick into the side of the hyena send him flying, but not far. With a crack of wood and bone hit the mammal the longer side of the pool table and slammed onto the wooden ground. Yelping like a little boy, he kept lying there, unable to defend himself and gasping for air that he needed so desperately. But it was not over for him, Gregory was enjoying the whole thing too much, with all the eyes on him and knowing that none of the present mammals would stop him.

"Ortiz! This maggot is one of your mammals, right?"

"Yes, Sir. His name is Lucas Ortega," The mountain lion, who stood with the bobcat on the other side of the pool table, replied meekly. Sophie didn't know why but she thought there would come more resistance from a Cartel boss than this.

"Tse, do you think I care who this is, Ortiz? I just care about what he did. Come on stand up, you piece of shit!"

Gregory yanked the hyena up on his collar and held him with two paws in front of his face. The two predators were just inches apart from each other but still tried the beaten mammal to turn his gaze away.

Sophie saw that the left eye of the Lucas Ortega was already blue and started to swell but that was not all, blood trickled down from his muzzle and landed on his white and partly ripped white shirt. He looked like a mess and Sophie new she or anybody in the room should intervene, but nobody did. The fear of the butcher was just too high.

"Tell me, boy, what did you do? Searching for some treasures that you can give to one of your whores or maybe selling them?" Gregory asked the whining Lucas with a grin on his muzzle.

"N-n-nothing…"

"Liar. I saw you snooping around, or do you want to say that I am a liar, boy?" The old lynx replied, his grin growing darker with every second.

"P-Please, I just used the bathroom a-a-and searched for my w-way back...that's all! I swear...I ended in the wrong room!"

Suddenly, Gregory Bell let go of Lucas's collar and dropped the hyena on the almost empty pool table. Again was the sound of broken bones and muffled screams audible in the whole room but no one moved. Everyone just watched with high attention what happened to the mammal on the pool table. Even his boss, Diego Ortiz and his other companion, the bobcat, couldn't do anything and so they stood and watched in silent terror what happened to one of their own.

Gregory turned his gaze to the frightening bobcat, who held the billiard cue in front of his chest as if he hoped it could defend himself with the piece of wood.

"Break it!" Bellowed the old lynx to the bobcat and enclosed with his left paw the throat of the hyena to pin him on the table.

"B-but…"

"Do I have to repeat myself? Break it! Or I impale you with the complete cue after I'm done with this failure of a mammal!"

In his search for help turned the bobcat his head to his boss, Diego Ortiz, but even he shook his head and replied in resignation, "Do what he says, Mateo."

From the hyena came just a rattled wheezing and hopeless looks around him.

With shaking paws, Mateo laid the cue over his right thigh and broke it with all his strength in two. The cracking of the wood send another shiver down on Sophie's spine, and she saw that instead of a long cue, Mateo held now two uneven sticks in his paws. The first one was long and one only the third of its original length but both with extremely pointy ends.

"Give me the thick end and hold his left paw open," the butcher commanded and still shaking did Mateo as he was told with the stick and held not long after this the arm of his partner in crime or maybe even friend pinned down by his own.

"And now, let me ask again, boy," Gregory began and took his left paw from his throat and laid it flat and with a lot of pressure on the hyena's chest, "What did you steal from my family and me, while you walked around the house? And don't try to fool me, I recognize a thief when he stood in front of me! Back in my days, I would just chop off your filthy paw, just the right punishment for a thief. Don't you think? But..."

With a dark grin around his muzzle, the butcher waved with the broken billiard cue in front of the hyenas face. A shaking head was all that Sophie could see from her perspective.

"...Unfortunately, I have no cleaver at paw, so I have to use this to teach you some manners. Now, for the last time. What did you steal, boy," Gregory asked and held the improvised stake, ready to strike, above his head.

"N-nothing!"

"Wrong answer!"

"STOP!"

A loud voice shouted through the room, and Sophie asked herself who could be so foolish and stood up to this monster. It took her some moments to realize that she wasn't sitting on her chair anymore, with the empty glass of the cranberry juice beside her but she stood some steps in front of it.

And all eyes turned to her.

After another second she realized that she was the one who shouted at Gregory Bell. But why would she do something like this? Sophie thought for a moment but couldn't come to a conclusion. Right now, she couldn't come to any conclusion, her mind was blank and the only thing that would fill it in the next minutes would be fear. Sophie was sure of it.

Amongst all the looks in the room that she would receive was the gaze of the butcher the one that would probably scare her the most, but it was his grin that made her feel his aggressive nature more than anything else.

"Girl, who do you think you are to command me," Gregory Bell asked and turned his gaze from the Hyena to the leopard girl to his right. The grin, which disappeared seconds ago when the shout came from Sophie, came back but this time a bit darker. As if he knew who she was.

Gregory chuckled, "Hehe, I'll just finish my work here, and then I will take care of you, girl. No one commands me, not here in the Bell mansion."

"And now, back to you, thief," The old lynx said and raised his paw again with the wooden stake in it, but even this time he should've no luck to carry out the punishment. In the open door, through which Gregory entered the room not long ago, stood now an angered female lynx in a black cocktail dress. Beside her was Kingfisher, walking over to his apprentice with a questioning gaze but in a calm way as if nothing that happened in the parlor mattered for him.

"Enough with this, Uncle!"

"Mind your own business, Minerva! In comparison to you, I try to take care of my duties as a leader of the Bell family, and one of them is to keep the family free of enemies, cowards, and thieves. And guess what I found here." Gregory replied.

Kingfisher who walked almost silently through the room, stood after two last steps beside Sophie and asked in a lowered voice, "Are you okay?"

The young leopard nodded in reply but seemed more as if it wasn't. The old lynx's grip on the mammal under him seemed still firm and not willing to give up, just because someone has told him to.

"One of the leader? You seem to have forgotten that Elisabeth Bell, your sister, and my mother, gave me the authority over the Bell family and no one else! And you know how she hated it when someone disobeyed her order," Minerva explained and became slowly calmer, but her facial expression was still furious.

With a heavy grunt, Gregory Bell took his paws finally from the hyena and turned to his niece.

"Beth is dead now, and she was already old when she gave you the command, but what's even worse, she's gone soft in her last years. There was nothing more of the enthusiastic and hot-headed mammal, who once ruled this family and most of the town. She has begun to prefer talking over dealing with things and to make compromises," Gregory Bell spat the last word he spoke out as if it could poison him if he kept his muzzle shut.

"Because she had something more to protect than her stupid honor. She had to take care of a daughter, a husband, and a family. She couldn't jump into every battle that was ahead of her as if she was twenty and didn't think of the consequences, uncle," Minerva said and put both paws on to her hips, "If you should ever again attack a guest in my house, yes uncle because that's what it is – my house, then it'll have consequences for you, that you will not like," Minerva stood right in front of him and had raised her right paw and index finger as a warning. But Gregory gave just another grunting noise from him and shoved the paw out of his face.

"If you do anything stupid, Mina, then I'll bring you hell on earth. I promise you that, family or not. Then we'll see who's truly the leader of the Bell family, " Gregory said and took a look to his left, where Kingfisher stood directly behind Minerva, obviously prepared to intervene if Gregory Bell would do anything reckless, "And don't think that this fox could protect you or anyone you love. He will fall like any other who fought against me before."

He was done with the two and said what he wanted to say. So, Gregory stepped away from them and left the room without turning back. The tension vanished almost immediately and the first thing Minerva Bell did was to sigh in relief before she turned to the rest of the mammals in the room.

"Welcome to the Bell mansion, dear friends and please excuse this unpleasant beginning. If you would follow me, we can begin in some moments with the dinner," Minerva said and walked to sliding door through which Sophie entered not long ago the room. The leader tried desperately to show strength but Sophie could see that her smile was fake. The mammals in the room started to follow her. Void smiled to Sophie when he left the room. After five minutes remained just Kingfisher and Hummingbird in the room, beside them the two parts of the broken cue. The other members of the Ortiz Cartel had brought hyena to their car. Sophie didn't expect, that she would see him again.

"You talked to Void, is that right?"

"Yes, Sir."

"I don't know what he told you but… don't believe everything he said. He likes to exaggerate things."

"O-okay," Sophie replied. Smiling, answered Adrian, "Good girl. Come, we don't want to keep the others waiting," Kingfisher said and moved on. With a sigh on her lips, Sophie answered with a simple, "Yes, Sir," and followed him. She had no good feeling, when she thought Gregory Bell and the fact that he almost pierced a broken stake through the paw of another mammal. One, he suspected of stealing without having just one bit of evidence. And she intervened. She, a little kitten. Sophie knew that she saved this hyena definitely a visit in the hospital but she didn't know what she brought upon herself with her action. Gregory Bell frightened her more than any mammal before. The thought of him alone triggered a reflex she checked with her right paw the knife that Adrian has given her. Of course, it was still in her pocket, but somehow it put her mind at ease and gave her some courage. Not much, but it was enough to move on.


	3. Sworn Shield

**Sworn Shield**

With overwhelming astonishment, Sophie sat at the long table and felt being here in the dining hall of the Bell family strongly reminded her of the old fairy tales her mother had always told her.

She still vividly remembered how her mother came to her with a huge book when she was a young kitten. Every night before she went to bed, her mother had told her stories about old Kings and their beautiful Queens who lived in their magnificent castles standing on sacred hills. About lovely princesses kidnapped by a dark knight and about a bold princes who tried everything to save the day and defeat the villain. About dragons, witches, trolls and much more sinister creatures. Tales about good and evil, their fight and how good always won in the end and about all the evil things in the world and that, at the end of the day, all lived happily together.

Now, Sophie knew better...what for lies her mother had told her. But they were beautiful lies, nonetheless. In the end, Sophie couldn't blame her for even one of them. All her mother did, was to tell her a fairy tale, gave her a kiss on her forehead and said to her that she loved her before her mother left her for the night.

'In the end, weren't all those stories just lies we love to believe?'

But it seemed that at least in one point the tales were true, here in this dining hall, it was just like Sophie had always imagined the festivities in one of those stories. Where at the end the prince married the princess, and everyone was laughing, eating, drinking and had the time of their lives in a place like this.

Here, in this massive hall made of wood and stone, with windows that went from the floor up to the ceiling and a view over the whole inner garden which was by now covered in a thick blanket of snow, Sophie sat and tried to understand where she was.

Two massive fireplaces at the walls helped to keep the room at a warm temperature. The most impressive eye-catcher, however, stood in in the middle of the room. Never before had Sophie seen such a long dining table with a massive crystal chandelier right above her head. The remaining ceiling was covered in magnificent paintings and the crystal glass above reflected the shone of the fireplaces, drenching the whole room in a rich orange glow.

Ocelot serving girls, in black and white dresses, walked silently around the room and tried their best to work as fast as they could. Sophie guessed that it had something to do with the old lynx at the end of the table, who looked to everyone as if he owned everything in here, including the serving girls.

The fear before Gregory Bell was now, where Adrian was back, no longer so imminent. And for quite some time, Sophie could even enjoy the dinner, even so, she glanced every now and then over to the old lynx at the end of the table. She sat between Adrian to her left and Void to her right. To Adrian's, left sat Mr. Bell and to his left and at the head of the table the leader of the Bell family, Minerva Bell. The chair to her left, however, was empty and no one even dared to sit there. Sophie didn't know what it meant but kept silent about it, she had the feeling that nothing good would come from such a question. After the empty place came the other mobster families finally. At first, sat there Yu Yan Gao and her family members, followed by the remaining mammals of the Ortiz Kartel, then Dr. Theodor Kruger and finally Gregory Bell. Who was most of the time in a long discussion with the doctor and some other members of the Bell family, each of them sat on the other side of the table.

To her great delight, Sophie sat directly in front of one of the fireplaces and could feel how the warmth covered her. Void beside her seemed not so amused about the constant heat, which was renewed every so often by a serving girl, who put some more logs into the fire.

Every predator at the table was served an extraordinary dish. It was bluefish tuna, which was, how Adrian told Sophie together with how to eat the fish, one of the most expensive fishes you could buy on the free or the black market. Sophie didn't know if the price was justified, but the whole dish was just amazing and together with the first dish, a salad with some strange vegetables and seafood she had never seen before, the most delicious thing she had ever eaten. The bluefish tuna, however, was arranged on a small pile of pasta together with some black mushrooms, which Void called truffles, but Sophie had never seen such in her life before.

While Sophie was occupied with finishing her dish, Mrs. Bell was already in some discussions with the other leaders. And like Adrian had told her, twitched Sophie's round ears to every bit of new information.

"Yu Yan, I hope the protection service is going well," Mrs. Bell asked and took a small sip from her white wine, and her ice blue eyes studied the tigress and every movement she did.

"Oh yes, everything is going how it should, Minerva. We even considered taking some new goods from the Ortiz Kartel. You know...to expand the income," Yu Yan replied in a very heavy and eastern accent.

"Mr. Ortiz, I hope the last deal was going better than the one before?" Mrs. Bell asked and turned towards her own dish, continuing where she left off. The mountain lion froze for a moment and thought about his answer before he turned towards the head of the table.

"Mmh, yes. There were no problems with the delivery this time. I...I guess we can thank Kingfisher for his professional work and that there was this time no…," Ortiz cleared his throat and looked around him before he went on and spoke meekly to the others, "...dead mammal on our side."

A growl came from the end of the table. Gregory Bell raised his deep voice and spoke directly to his niece, "If you would've allowed more mammals for me, I could've handled this on my on, Minerva!"

A moment of silence passed before Minerva turned towards her uncle. She could just barely hide the anger in her face and voice, but Sophie saw that she tried her best to control herself.

"You and your behavior were the reason why we needed Kingfisher's help in the first place! Just because of you escalated the situation and four of our mammals died. Four dead members of the Bell family! Just because someone paid you not the respect, you think you deserve!"

"Exactly! And I would do it again until those idiots learn some respect! Those Midland morons wanted to trade their goods in our town with our permission but didn't even respect our authority? Not acceptable," The Butcher said and chuckled to himself, the rest of the room was dead silent, and the only thing that could be heard was Kingfisher who continued eating beside Sophie. Shocked about the fox and his disrespect of the old lynx, Sophie almost wanted to poke him, but if she had to decide between Gregory Bell and Adrian Wilde, she knew which side she would choose.

Minerva just shook her head, took her wine and turned her gaze towards the window. Gregory corrected the direction in which he looked to some degree and had his gaze now directed at the fox, who just finished his meal as if nothing in the world was wrong.

"You would be the first who receives a teaching from me, Fox. I would beat your smug face bloody until you have learned some respect," The butcher said and grinned sinisterly as if it was just a question of time.

"You mistake the stars reflected in a pond at night for those in the sky, Gregory," Adrian said and cleaned his muzzle with a napkin.

"What do you mean with that?" The old gray lynx asked with a confused but also angry gaze towards the younger fox. But Adrian just sighed and began.

"What I mean is...you mistake respect and authority for fear and think this makes you powerful or even a respected mammal of the society. In fact your more like a little child in the body of an old geezer who can't control himself."

The fox and the lynx stared at each other, and none of both liked to give up this little presentation of strength, but everybody else in the room assumed that any minute, a fight would begin between the Butcher of Zootopia and Kingfisher. The tension in the room was almost too much. Minerva felt it also and wanted to prevent a confrontation between both mammals. But before she said anything, Gregory again raised his voice and to the surprise of most mammals on the table, he was calm and collected.

"If you think, that I would jump over the table and drag you out into the snow to tear you apart... forget it. I know the difference between a punk who needs to learn a lesson and someone like you who provokes me on purpose. And don't worry I'm well aware of what you can do, but I also promise you, that. . . One day, I'll get you where it hurts you the most."

Sophie saw that a slight smile was on Adrian's muzzle when he replied, "We'll see old mammal."

Annoyed but also calmer, Minerva spoke to both of them, "Are you two done?"

"Of course and my apologies, Minerva." The fox replied, but Gregory answered just with a grunt, turning back to his half-finished dish in front of him. Sophie had an idea why she and Adrian were sitting so close to the head of the Bell family but her uncontrollable uncle sat so far away. She would've done the same thing...or even put him in the cellar where he couldn't hurt anyone.

"Anyhow, Doctor Kruger you said there are new developments in the city council? If I remember correctly, you said there was an unusual proposal from one of the higher council members? What was it? Something about zones in Zootopia?" Minerva asked with a smile to the deer beside her uncle. Without any emotion, Dr. Theodor Kruger began to speak. His massive antlers looked heavy, and we're most possible also the reason why he didn't turn his head to Mrs. Bell but kept looking toward the table plate.

"Mmh yes, but unusual is, in this case, more than a euphemism. Crazy, unbelievable and impossible would be the better choice," Kruger said and cleaned his muzzle with a napkin. To Sophie's astonishment, Adrian seemed more than interested in this story. For the first time during the dinner and the conversations that took place, the fox had turned both his gaze and ears towards the deer.

"Why's that?" Minerva asked.

"The idea of this mammal is to restructure Zootopia and create, and this is no joke, twelve unique ecosystems. Each fitting for the liking of different mammals but all of them could live together in one big city. A paradise, he called it. An Arctic part in the east, a Savannah in Downtown, a desert in the south, Rainforests in the North and so on and so on. It's crazy! To think alone about the costs for this project makes my head swirl."

"Well, I have nothing against a little bit of cold in the east," Mr. Big said with a smile and nodded to one of the polar bears beside him, who began to chuckle.

Another grunt came from Gregory Bell, who also continued to speak, " Pah! They should let the town grow on its own. Ecosystems...tsk, Humbug! I mean by the three goddesses, what does a god damn camel have any business being in Zootopia! None, I tell you. They should stay where they belong and not claiming some unknown territory or town. We have to take care of our mammals and not some strangers."

"A very limited mindset for someone who lives since so many years in a world where mammals travel and move how they like. Especially for someone who wants to rule over a town and never understood the basics of economics and trade. Two things you're depending on," Kingfisher replied and smiled, now finally finished with his dish, to the butcher.

One of the ocelot serving girls made her way to Minerva and whispered something into her ear. For a moment, Minerva sat there and stared with wide eyes at the table in front of her, before she began stuttering some last words, Minerva stood up and left the room.

"You two...no fighting...I'm right back...by the three goddesses, she really calls me…"

Some of the serving girls had almost to jump out of the way when Minerva rushed out of the room, leaving behind a lot of confused gazes.

For some time there was just silence. Nobody in here liked these gatherings, violence was never far, and a fight could mean much worse things for the mob families of Zootopia.

Sophie was right then at the last part of her fish when she felt his gaze on her. Paralyzed by fear, the young leopard was unable to move or even to look up into the face of Gregory Bell. Kingfisher was distracted and talked to the same serving girl, which brought the information about the call to them.

"Minerva is not here, and I think it's a good time to tell you a little story, kitten."

'What can he tell me? B-because of Robert? Or is that the punishment for the interruption?' Sophie's head was swirling with thoughts, but no matter how much she wanted to look up, her head didn't move, but she had the feeling that this story would be unlike the ones her mother had told her.

"One and a half year ago came a young and ambitious leopard to me, with the wish to work. You know Zootopia, Kitten, there's a lot of unemployment among the young folk, and they'll have not much hope in the future. He was just one of many mammals that came to us…," Gregory began, but Sophie already felt that this would be a very personal story for her, "...but he had something that others lack and that was the determination to go on with something. Even if he knew it would hurt him or others...your left paw shows this just too well."

Sophie felt how Gregory's words hit her hard in a place where she thought was nothing left but grief. She needed something to hold on, something to keep her here in this complicated reality. But the only thing Sophie had was the knife in her left paw, she clasped the piece of silver and could already feel the pain of her wound, but she didn't care. In fact, she welcomed it. At least she knew because of the pain that she was still there.

A quick, frightened look and Sophie knew two things for sure. No one was looking at her, but they were all listening carefully to her story.

'They don't care one bit for me... it's just for their curiosity!' Sophie thought in the first moment, and the feeling of loneliness came over her, here between all these mammals.

"He wanted to be one of the big boys, your brother. And what should I say he was doing fine, but then he did this one stupid thing, no one should do in this town. He stole from the Bell family. He took our symbol of power, and he wanted to sell it, I know it. The quick buck was more worth for him than honor," Gregory went on, and Sophie saw that he was no longer looking at her but the fox beside her. Adrian, however, glared just back at the old feline.

"We wanted back, what was rightfully ours and so we went to your parents. What should I say...It didn't go as expected," Gregory said and grinned.

"That's enough, Gregory."

"Ohh, is it, Kingfisher? Is it really? I would say the fun starts now. You know, kitten, your father tried to be such a hero. He offered his own life, said he would pay for everything your brother was owning us. The old janitor didn't understand that it's not about money but about respect. But we taught him...oh we taught him very well what respect means," Gregory continued. His smile was so extensive that everyone in the room knew for sure that he was enjoying this in a way others would enjoy a good meal or some intimate time with their mate. Again, Kingfisher tried to intervene.

"It's enough now, Gregory!"

But the old lynx didn't stop. If Sophie looked up right in this moment, she would see three sharp fangs blinking to her like a warning and one that was broken right in the middle as a sign what could happen to her.

"Your brother was there! He could've stopped me by giving me back the ring...but he didn't. So I went on, limb for limb and bone for bone until there was nothing more than a whining sack of flesh, fur, and broken bones. But I let your daddy live up to the end…," Gregory told this story the whole mob crowd to show everyone what would await them if they disrespect him or even think about fighting him. Finally, it was Kingfisher who took care of the situation and interrupted the old feline.

"It's enough, Butcher. You tortured her long enough," the fox spoke in a rough voice to Gregory Bell, who just grunted in response to this rudeness. Unaware that the old man was standing. Kingfisher, however, spoke in a soft and carrying voice to Sophie.

"You're bleeding. Come, we let Minerva take a look at that," Kingfisher said, closing his left paw carefully around her left one. Sophie snapped slowly out of the thoughts of rage in her mind. Loosening the grip around the finely worked silver knife, which dropped together with some drops of blood onto the white tablecloth.

Sophie's whole emotional background had shifted. There was no more fear in her, not even the tiniest bit. The young leopard was filled with so much anger that she was ready to burst when she raised her head and looked at Gregory's grinning face. It was that exact moment that she made a decision. One she would fulfill no matter what would happen to here.

'I will kill this mammal and that with my own two paws. He's the one who destroyed my family. He's the one who took everything from me and made my life...strange,' Sophie thought. Together with Kingfisher, she walked to the door, he behind her. From his place, Gregory was laughing and shouting.

"What? Don't you want to hear the end of the story? How your mother…"

The door closed and Sophie couldn't hear the end of the sentence, maybe it was better that way. The ocelot service girls hurried around the two. Bowing when Sophie or Adrian came to close but mostly just continuing their work in serving dishes and keeping up the household.

The anger inside of Sophie was raging like a massive autumn storm, but she was unable to articulate any of the things she thought it even to bring her breathing back under control. There were also no tears she could cry, all of them long gone in the year she lived on her own, or so she thought at this moment.

Sophie never thought she would ever find the mammal, who was responsible for her misery, but now? What should she do?

Adrian began speaking to one of the older ocelot housemaids, "Excuse me, can you please tell me where I can find Mrs. Bell, my dear?"

For a moment, the ocelot was startled, but she regained her composure rather quickly, and if Sophie saw right, then there was a slight blush to see in her inner ears. Something she understood just too good when she saw Adrian's charismatic smile to the young feline.

"T-the Lady of the house is right now in her office over in the funeral home, Sir."

Adrian nodded and gave her another charismatic smile to which the ocelot just bowed and moved on. The serious face of the fox returned fast and together they walked on through the mansion. On their way, they passed a lot of old paintings, mostly showing famous mammals of the past like the twelve founding fathers of Zootopia or other lynxes of the Bell family who were already dead but came from somewhere in Midland, or so it seemed. Everywhere were the dark wood and the expensive looking carpet in which she young leopard spilled some drops of blood from time to time. Not intentionally but the blood was at one point too much to hold in her paws, and so she had to decide between ruining her dress or the carpet. The decision was rather simple for her.

At one point they enter a corridor made of glass and steel. It was colder in here, but Sophie could also see parts of the garden, and she already assumed that they were closed to the funeral home.

'He is there, waiting for me. The last part of my family,' she thought and followed Adrian.

"You knew it, right?" Sophie asked the fox.

"What Gregory told you in the dining hall?"

"Yes," Sophie replied while they entered a room with a lot of smaller metal doors in the wall and two steel barren in the middle of the room. The young leopard knew where they were, and under normal circumstances, she would've been more excited to enter such a place but now was all that she could feel the beating of her heart and the rage that still hadn't settled in her mind.

Adrian stopped and looked down at her, directly into her eyes.

"Minerva told me today about it. And I think there was not the right time nor the right situation for telling you any of this."

Moments passed in which both mammals just stared at each other before Adrian sighed heavy.

"You don't believe me."

"Does it matter? I'm just a small kitten without a family. I was literally bare before you and you know everything about me. And I? I know nothing about you, who you are or where you come from," For a second, Sophie had to hold back her tears.

'Why? Why do I have to cry now but not when the damned lynx spoke about my father and what he did to him,' Sophie thought and turned to the fox.

"I'm am an almost-thirteen-year-old female leopard, who lives together with a fox in his twenties who gave her a gun to kill her own brother after he asked her if she wanted to live!"

Adrian was silent and watched Sophie with a lot of concern. The young feline became louder with every word she said but he didn't interfere. Instead he calmly listened to her and how she called out everything that was troubling her. Her voice was echoing in the cold and dark autopsy room.

"And it was exactly this mammal, that takes this young girl into his home. Washes her, consoles her and saves her life. All of this just to ask her if she wants to follow him on some mysterious suicide mission in an underground gangster world! I have no idea what's going on here! I feel like Alice in this stupid book you gave me to New Year and I have no idea if you're the queen who just wants my head or the Cheshire cat who tries to lead me out of this den! What am I for you? Is this place what awaits me? Is this how it always ends?"

Sophie's voice died, and Adrian could see how her paws trembled in anger. Silence reigned now between the two, and the buzzing of the cooling units was the only sound down here in the autopsy room. She stared at Adrian and waited for his reply.

"I'm sorry, Sophie, under normal circumstances there's no way out of this den. The only exit mammals like you and me will ever know is a place like this. Because sooner or later our past will get us…," Adrian said, while he looked around the room and Sophie understood instantly. Sad and tired, Sophie let her head hang and strolled towards the door with the inscription 'Office'. She got startled when Adrian laid his paw on her shoulder to stop her.

"...But I will try my best to give you the chance to escape this end."

"We'll see," Sophie answered with a tired voice and stepped together with the fox in front of the door. Adrian opened it without knocking and to Sophie's surprise was Minerva smiling and even laughing. She sat behind a large and expensive looking wooden table with folded paws and spoke loud to the other side in utter delight. The phone was set to speaker mode so that everybody in the room could hear.

With a smile and a movement of her paw, Minerva commanded the fox and the leopard to two nearby armchairs in front of her desk, but she seemed to have no problem with the two in the room. The place itself seemed to be one of two connections between the autopsy room and the showrooms which were on regular days open for the public. Sophie asked herself, how many mammals Minerva had consoled in this room. Everything was nicely decorated, and the armchairs in front of the large wooden table were more than comfortable and made out of red velvet.

"Now, my dear, where are you right now. I'm terribly worried since you left with Scott. It felt like an eternity," Minerva said smiling.

"We're living in Zoo York, Mum, and I know it's just half year that we saw us the last time but you know I had to get out...you know because of whom and why," the sweet and young sounding voice replied. Minerva sighed when she heard the last part but remained silent. Sophie didn't know about whom they talking about, but she had an idea, 'Not even her own family is safe from him.'

"Is...is he still there?"

"Unfortunately...yes, my dear. But I hope you will still come back as you said earlier?"

"Of course, Mum, and you can't imagine how sorry I'm that I left with Scott in the night. I shouldn't have done that, I…I shouldn't have left you alone with him."

Relief was the only thing, Minerva showed at the moment when her daughter told her that she would come back no matter who was waiting here for her. It was as if a massive boulder was lifted from her chest and her smile turned for the very first time in Sophie's presence in a genuine one.

"Meredith Bell, you don't need to apologize...I'm just happy that you're okay and that you're coming back to Zootopia…Back to your father and me."

"Mum?" Meredith sounded now almost frightened when she talked to her mother.

"Yes, dear," Minerva asked with a smile.

"You...you would take me back no matter...what happened with me, right?"

"Of course, my little kitten. What is that for a question?"

"Mum, I… How do I start...Oh my gosh, that is way more difficult than I thought it would be…," Meredith said but broke in the middle of the sentence. Sophie saw how the grin on Minerva's face grew. Chuckling, she replied to her daughter, "No matter what happened or what you did, my dear, you'll always have a place in this family. You know that."

"Thanks, Mum," Meredith said, and everyone could hear how she deeply inhaled on the other side of the phone. But whatever her mother awaited her to say, Mrs. Bell wasn't prepared for what was coming.

"Mum...I'm pregnant."

Adrian began to grin and looked just at Minerva's petrified face, with a certain satisfaction. The female lynx didn't know what she should say and stammered some words back into the phone.

"You...and Scott...but how?"

"Really, Mum? Do I really have to explain how it came to this?" Meredith replied embarrassed but also amused.

"No...no. Of course, not. By the three goddesses, I'm so happy for you. My little daughter is going to be a mother herself. When...no, what...no, that's something for later… You know what? Right now, I'm just happy that you come back to me even at such times...but why me? I mean you know of my... environment and duties. You know it's difficult here and I mean you have Scott."

A sobbing came over the line, which developed fast into crying.

"Darling… what's wrong?"

With a tear-soaked voice, Meredith continued, "I'm terrified, Mum. I mean Scott does his best, but he's just eighteen, and I'm just seventeen. He's working all day in the harbor, just like me in a small diner...but it's not enough. We have no idea what will happen, and I feel so lost here in Zoo York in our small apartment. Mum, I need you...I'm not ready for this."

"Darling, just say when and everything will be prepared," Minerva said with a smile only a mother could put on and that meant everything will be fine. Sophie missed this smile a lot from her mother.

"Thanks, Mum."

"Always my dear...So, when is the big event taking place?"

"Oh, there's still some time left. I'm in the second month, so six more to go. Besides, Scott and I, have also some things to do before we can leave for Zootopia. Give us a month, and we're good to go."

"Fine... that's fine. I'll make my preparations and Meredith?"

"Yes?"

"Two things. The first is...Please call me every day and whenever you have questions. I'll be there for you."

"Sure, Mum," no one saw her at this moment, but it seemed everyone, could imagine her right now, standing in a small floor beside her old telephone, somewhere in the 40th floor of a Zoo Yorker apartment building and smiling about the words of her mother.

"And one final thing...I love you, Meredith. Never forget that, my dear child."

"I love you too, Mum. Bye."

Some seconds passed before Meredith Bell, ended the phone call. There were a lot of times in the last year when Sophie felt incredible alone, but none of them could keep up with this one. To hear how others who did harm to other mammals, could be happy...it was almost too much for the young leopard to bear. But despite the feeling of cold anger, she tried to keep it together.

Adrian got up from his armchair beside Sophie and closed the one button on his suit jacket. With a smile, he turned towards Minerva, "Just like I told you, Mina. Sooner or later she would come back to you...and now she returns even with a big surprise for the soon to be a grandma," Adrian said and immediately spoke on, but Sophie knew the last part was for her, "I wait for you in the dining hall."

Before any of the two female mammals could answer was the door already closed in silence.

"I never thought that… Where is he? Didn't he said he wanted to talk?" Minerva said slightly dazzled and stood up.

"Mmh, We came here because of me...My wound has opened, and I wanted to ask if you could take a look at it," Sophie said and tried to show no anger.

"Oh, you poor thing! Of course, I'll take a look," Minerva said and sat beside Sophie. Carefully, Minerva removed the bloody bandages and threw them on the white tiles which covered the floor. After a first glance at the wound, Minerva disappeared for a moment into the autopsy room.

Alone with herself, Sophie inspected her left paw pad and saw that it felt as bad as it looked. She saw six sutures without a clear structure on the black pad and in the middle of the longest still some drops of blood which pressed through the wound. The whole thing was still hurting but what was really annoying was the heat it was emitting and the itching that sometimes not seemed to end.

'It's the only thing that remains of him and my past. I have nothing from Mum or Dad...just this stupid scar, from my stupid brother,' Sophie thought and looked deep in thought into her paw. She didn't even realize when Minerva returned with a steel bowl in her paws. In it was everything she needed to clean and disinfect the bloody paw pad. Minerva took Sophie's paw carefully and began the cleaning process.

"This will hurt now," Mrs. Bell said, but Sophie replied just with a short, "Mmh."

The pain in her paw was bad but way worse was the pain she felt inside of her chest and as much as Sophie tried to keep quiet, she couldn't, she needed to know more about Mrs. Bell and her past.

"Your...your daughter will come back, Mrs. Bell?"

Mrs. Bell seemed slightly dazzled about the sudden conversation, but it was more how Sophie talked to her. The gaze of the young feline was directed straight to the wall in front of her, and she made no attempt to make eye contact with the female lynx.

"Oh yes, after half a year she'll finally return home. You can't imagine how glad I am."

"You would do everything for her, wouldn't you Mrs. Bell?"

With a smile, Minerva replied, "Everything and more. She's the only child I'll ever have."

With a questioning gaze, Sophie turned finally to Minerva Bell, who immediately knew that she had to explain more to make things clearer.

"It took my husband and me a long time to get a child...we even had to use special... let's call it procedures so that he could...contribute his part."

"He's...impotent?" Sophie asked bluntly. She always had a talent for blurting out obvious things that were just hinted at and as it seemed was this one of the things that could embarrass even someone like the head of the mobster family Bell. Minerva's inner ears turned to a rose color, but it already vanished after some seconds.

"...You know too much for your age...but yes you're right."

Mrs. Bell was cleaning Sophie's paw with alcohol when the teenager asked the next question.

"Is...is that the same reason why you sleep with, Adrian?"

Again appeared the Rose colored ears and the wide eyes in front of Sophie. For once, Sophie asked herself who was the adult and who the mammal who acted like a little girl.

"Tsk...you really know too much, my kitten but again yes," Mrs. Bell replied and took a moment to gather her thoughts.

"My...my husband is very open when it comes to this part of our marriage, and I love him just like my daughter, but there are things he can't do for me. He doesn't want to know who it is, but he's not stupid...I guess he already figured out that I spend so much time with Adrian and not just because of the work. Not that he would say anything to him or me. David would always just want the best for me, no matter if it hurts him or not," Minerva stopped with the cleaning and began to bandage Sophie's paw. The older feline looked at Sophie with an almost begging look. She then said, "I'm also just a mammal, Sophie, you have to understand this. I have needs like anybody else...and I don't know. I guess I was simply there when he needed somebody and I needed him…"

"Okay, okay...I understand you don't need to explain it any further. But...why exactly him?"

A little bit relaxed by Sophie's statement, Minerva replied well laughing, "I guess he was the only one who could come close to me and the only one who was brave enough. You shouldn't forget, I'm the head of Zootopia's underworld, my dear, what do you think how well I can search for a nice guy and especially one for just certain nights? Everyone fears coming close to me...well except for Adrian. But, don't worry he didn't even consider it, as long as he was together with his wife. He's a gentlemammal, through and through...I guess, in the end, it was my needs and his loneliness that brought us together...And done."

Snapping out of her daydreams, where she imagined Adrian's past, Sophie looked at her freshly bandaged paw and recognized that during all this talk her anger was gone. She couldn't be angry at a female mammal who just wanted to have a child of her own with a male who loved her so much, that he would even let her go to other males, just to make her happy.

Carefully and mother-like, Mrs. Bell took Sophie's paws into her own and squatted down before her. Both females were now on eye level, and Sophie didn't know why but all the emotions that she buried in the last year deep in her mind came slowly back to the surface.

"We're not so different, Sophie. We both want nothing more than a normal life, but we also know that we will never have it."

Tears ran down her cheeks, and Sophie nodded to the words of the female lynx. Sophie could feel the warmness of Mrs. Bells paws, and it comforted her more than she thought.

"I will tell you something, that no one else knows, Sophie,...I hate it to be the leader of this family and that every single day. If I could, I would burn down everything and live a normal life but I can't."

"But why are you doing this?" Sophie asked in her desperation to understand the female lynx, that held her paws so carefully. She realized that she was no killer and not the monster she saw at first in her. Just another mammal, who couldn't live her life as she wanted.

"I guess you know the stories about mother. The cruel mobster queen of Zootopia, Elisabeth Bell. ….Anyhow, when her end came, I begged her to give all of this to Gregory, the leadership, the power, the money, the mansion...everything. But on her deathbed, she took my paws like I take yours right now and she said, 'Mina, I'm sorry my dear, I made so many mistakes in my life...I murdered, tortured and did so many horrible things for the sake of the family. But you. You're the only good that ever came from me. Too late, I understand what I did to this town and what my legacy will be...It hurts me my dear, but I have to give this burden to you.' I asked her why and she responded, 'Because you're the right kind of wrong, this town needs to keep him at bay. If I give everything to him, Zootopia would burn and that's every night.' And I knew she was right. Since then, I gathered every crime lord in this city and united them under my paw. Forming a kind of alliance with rules that everyone has to follow. All those crime lords together are like a sleeping giant but as long as I sing them lullabies, I know everything will be alright."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Sophie asked Mrs. Bells with a shocked expression.

"I have no problems when adult mammals look at me and see Mrs. Bell, the monster, the mob queen and leader of the underworld...but I want at least one other mammal in this world to see that I'm not this monster that everyone thinks I am …."

Hesitantly, Mrs. Bell let go of Sophie's paws. For a moment, the young leopard was startled when her warmth was gone, but I didn't take long, and Mrs. Bell took Sophie in a tight embrace. Her muzzle was directly at Sophie's ear when she began to whisper.

"Believe me, Sophie, I never wanted to hurt your parents or even your brother. I never wanted anything of this to happen...but still it did, and I'm awfully sorry for that," Mrs. Bell said, and Sophie pressed herself even closer to her warm body. She had missed this kind of affection and the touch of another mammal so much. It felt almost like her mother. Almost.

Both of them parted after another minute, but instead of standing up, Mrs. Bell went back in the squatting position in front of the young feline and laid her warm paws again on Sophie's.

"I can't give you back your parents, Sophie, but I promise you that I will always help you when you need me. No matter when and no matter what."

"Thank you, Mrs. Bell…," Sophie began and even smiled a little bit, but Minerva interrupted her quickly, "Please, call me Mina, I always feel so old when someone calls me 'Mrs. Bell'. It almost sounds as if I'm already a grand...mother."

She stopped and began to laugh about the sudden realization. Still giggling, she stood up and walked some steps through the room to put the no longer needed medical material with its metal bowl on her massive office table.

"Well, I guess I am old… I never thought I would feel at thirty-nine still like twenty-nine. Where does time go? You know what, Sophie? Call me, whatever you want. I guess Adrian will teach you to honor your client and just call them Mr. or Mrs….What's wrong, darling?"

'Don't you want to see him again, Sophie? One last time? I mean he's the last member of your family...the last connection to your past,' A voice in Sophie's mind whispered.

'Maybe, I should ask…,' Sophie thought.

"Can I ask for a favor, Mrs. Bell?"

"Of course, my dear, just tell me."

"Is my brother still here?"

Sophie saw that Mrs. Bell was struggling with herself. The female lynx didn't know if she should accept this request or merely deny it. In the end, Minerva lost to the begging eyes of a young feline, "Yes...but, please Sophie, I don't think that this is a good idea."

"Can I see him?"

"Yes… but…," Mrs. Bell replied and looked worried at Sophie before she continued, "There's no way to get you off this idea, my dear, right?"

Sophie shook her head in response, and Minerva sighed deeply to the decision of the young feline.

"Fine...follow me."

Silently, both left the office and walked back into the autopsy room. They past the autopsy tables and moved on to the cooling chambers. On the left wall were in total thirty cooling chambers for deceased mammals of a middle size, four for larger mammals and multiple hundreds for smaller ones. They walked along the wall of metal doors until Minerva stopped in front of the one with the number 'D-23'.

Sophie's heart was beating like crazy. She was so nervous that she couldn't even feel the surrounding cold, something she hated more than anything. Right then, everything inside of Sophie was just concentrated on the metal door and what she would find behind it. With little effort, Mrs. Bell opened it and looked over to Sophie.

"Are you sure you want this?"

"Yes," Sophie replied determined, and without waiting for another second, Mrs. Bell drew out the steel gurney with one move of her paw. A thin blue blanket laid over the body and revealed nothing of the mammal underneath.

"I...I want to be alone with him if that's okay?"

"Of course. Take your time with him, my dear. I guess you'll have no problem closing his cooling chamber and find the way back to the dining hall," Mrs. Bell asked and began to walk away from Sophie after she saw a visible node from her.

Several minutes passed since Mrs. Bell had left the room, but Sophie simply couldn't be brave enough to take away the blanket from his face. Her paws were shaking terribly, and she chewed so hard on her bottom lip that it already began to hurt.

'Come on, you dumb kitten, that's just Rob who's under the blanket. No monster, no stranger, just Robert and he can't hurt you. He's dead. He'll look like as if he's asleep.' Her inner self said.

Sophie raised her shaking paw to the form that seemed to be the head but stopped just inches before she touched the fabric.

'You saw other dead mammals before.' Her inner self reminded.

'I know...but this is, Rob! My brother!'

'The one who wanted to kill you and sell you like cattle.' her inner self chastised.

'But...he's still my brother.'

'Yes and the last connection to a dead family. Please, Sophie, take one last look at him and then let him and them go. Do it for your own sanity.' Her inner self begged.

Sophie took one last deep breath and pulled the blanket down. He looked almost friendly, how he laid there with his closed eyes.

Sophie's fast heartbeat became slower and slower with every minute she looked at him. There was nothing to fear, and his dead body seemed almost peaceful to Sophie.

"Hey, Rob….I...I'm here to say goodbye. I know we were never the best siblings and you always said that one day, I would be the death of you. Who could've thought that you were right," Sophie said and chuckled at the morbid realization. Her voice echoed lonely through the cold hall until it was dead silent again and tears started to gather in her eyes.

"I don't care what you did to me, I want you back, and I want Mum and Dad back. I want to hear you argue with Dad about football until mum must intervene to settle your quarrel. I want that we all four can sit together and watch a movie, as we did in the past. I want my Mum back who smiles at me and cheers me up whenever I feel down. I want my dad back who brought me to bed when I fell asleep on the couch...I just want my old life back."

Sophie could no longer keep it together. Her tears ran in streams down her cheeks, and she had fallen down to her knees, where she even had cupped her muzzle with her paws. All the things that she had buried in the back of her mind in the last year to survive on the streets were now coming back, and this time it was worse than ever before.

'Stand up, Sophie. You cried enough. It's time to move on, or you'll sit here forever in the cold. Yes, your family is dead, and everything is worse, but that doesn't mean it'll be like this forever. Have some hope, you have still Adrian and Minerva...,' Her inner self reminded her.

Slowly Sophie pushed herself up from the cold floor and whipped her tears away with the back of her left paw. She felt tired, cold and most of all alone but she knew she was alive and that was everything that counts. She pulled the blanket back over the face of her brother. After a loud sigh, she said, "I wish I could be together with all of you again."

There was no direct response and at first just a growl. At least until a deep voice pulled Sophie out of her memories and threw her back into reality. A harsh and way to cruel reality.

"Don't worry, my little kitten, soon you'll be together with them. But first, we'll have some fun."

* * *

Minerva tried her best to fix her dress at some places and look as elegant as before she consoled Sophie. The thought about the young leopard girl made her uneasy and also sad. She was walking through the glass corridor, which connected the funeral home with her mansion and saw that Adrian stood in the middle of the hallway and leaned against a steel pole. The fox watched how the snow was falling in thick flakes down to earth. For a moment she stood herself beside him, and together they observed how the white got more and more in the garden.

"She's far for her age, Adrian."

"I know that's why I gave her this chance...and admit it, you like her. I can see it in your gaze," Adrian said with a slight smile but without turning to her.

"How can't I? She reminds me too much of myself when I was young," Minerva said but remained silent.

"You mean, she remembers you of a young girl who has to grow into a role, no matter if she wants it to or not?"

"Yes…," Minerva replied coldly before she continued when from a larger tree a large amount of snow fell down to the floor, "And still, Sophie's just thirteen years old, and yet she's more mature than my own daughter who soon will be a mother herself."

"Are you really surprised? She survived one year, alone on the streets. No matter how often life has beaten her down, she always stood up again and walked on. Speaking of which? Where is she? I thought she would come with you?" Adrian asked and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"She wanted some last moments with her brother...And who am I to deny her that wish? Come, we have to go back to the feast or Gregory will throw a tantrum about the unreliable host of the event and stop worrying, she will soon follow."

"Fine," Adrian replied.

Both strolled back to the dining hall. Minerva with her paws on her back and Adrian with his deep in the pockets of his pants. After a short glance at her, he added, "By the way, you look gorgeous in that dress, Mina," Adrian said and just for a moment glanced a little bit of rose in her ears.

"Oh, Mr. Wilde. Does a certain fox wants a special dessert after the feast is over?"

Adrian grinned for a short moment about her words and replied, "Maybe...But right now, I just wanted to compliment you with the truth...And didn't you said no non-work related activities in your own home?"

"Killjoy," Minerva replied after a while of walking silently beside each other with a smile. She liked it when he was in her near and protected her.

Adrian Wilde, which the whole underworld just knew under the name Kingfisher, had since their first meeting a unique influence on her. She didn't know what it was, but he was one of the few mammals she felt attracted to and that even so he was a fox, at least fourteen years younger than she was and her contractor, bodyguard but mostly problem solver. Since he was part of her life, she could imagine to do something against her uncle and break his influence over this family and city. Maybe there was even the possibility of a normal life without hiding, police and the constant fear to lose something important in her life.

They stopped finally in front of the door to the dining hall. Adrian opened the door and held it open for Minerva with a bow and a decent smile.

"Mrs. Bell, if you please."

A node and a smile from her and just his name and they understood each other, "Kingfisher."

When they sat down, mammals talked with each other even over the boundaries of their own clans and families. It was almost too good to see. At least until Kingfisher and Mrs. Bell recognized who was missing. Adrian turned to Void, who drunk now his sixth glass of wine but still seemed sober enough to speak.

"Void, where is the old grumpy cat?"

"Shouldn't you know where he is," the red panda asked and looked confused to the fox.

"I don't understand…," Adrian said.

"He followed you and Hummingbird some minutes after you two left the diner and said he needs to speak to his niece."

"That bastard, he wouldn't…," Kingfisher replied and growled almost silent. The eyes of every nearby mammal were instantly on him.

Minerva's gaze turned fearful when she heard this. Until now she knew his growling just in a playful manner from the bedroom, but this one sounded threatening and scared her to the bone. But, she still didn't understand.

"Kingfisher...is everything alright?"

"No, not in the slightest or did you saw your uncle on the way back," Kingfisher replied angered and stood up.

"Wait...where are you going," Mrs. Bell shouted after the fox, who was already running towards the door.

"I'm going back to Hummingbird, and I promise you...better pray to the three damned goddesses that Gregory hasn't touched her…," Kingfisher growled but stopped and decided to make his way better back to the autopsy room. There was no way in guessing, for him was a life on the line, and he knew he needed to save it.

Mrs. Bell, who slowly understood what could happen right now, turned to the end of the table and spoke, "Steven, Paul. You two will follow me. We'll go after him."

* * *

Sophie thought she would know what she would feel when she was alone with the butcher. She thought that fear would paralyze her to the point where she would faint and the whole world around her turn black.

Nothing of this happened when Gregory Bell pressed Sophie against the cold metal doors of the autopsy room. There was no fear in her just a burning rage about the mammal which had destroyed her family. She stared in his eyes, but the lynx just grinned back at her.

"Oh, no more fear? What happened? Does your hate for me exceeds your fear, after I told you what happened to your father," Gregory asked while holding her up and pinned her with his right arm against the wall.

After the first shock was gone, Sophie recognized several things at once but one was above all else, and that was the fur perfume he used. It was the same Sophie's father always used for special occasions, but her father knew not to put too much on.

'The name of the perfume was Blue Star. It was always Mum's birthday present for dad. Why? Why do I remember such things right now?'

If the pressure on her chest weren't too much, Sophie would have to puke by now but not about the smell itself, it was still a sweet male scent. But the new connection it had from now on for her was too much. There was no longer her father in her memories about birthdays, Christmas dinners or the moment when he and mum left for the night because of their wedding day. Now, there was just the butcher and his sinister grin.

"What's wrong, kitten?"

"You...you murdered them. You're the reason why my life is now so miserable."

Gregory came closer with his face until they were just some inches apart from each other.

"And what do you want to do against this? Fight? Hahahaha... don't make me laugh. What…," Gregory said but broke in the middle of the sentence. Sophie had not enough space to lunge her right leg back enough, but she did what she could and kicked the butcher right between the legs. Just in time, because the way he pressed Sophie against the wall didn't allow her to breathe freely enough.

A terrifying howl echoed through the hall, which the inhabitants wouldn't mind too much, that sent Gregory to his knees, and Sophie fell back to the cold floor and even hurt her tail in this process. Fighting against the pain in her chest and the air shortage, Sophie was at least back on her knees.

Coughing she sat there and looked at the roaring and growling old lynx some meters away from her, who was like it seemed in relatively great pain and Sophie recognized that she enjoyed his suffering with every minute a little bit more.

'I hope you feel at least a bit of the pain you inflicted to my parents!'

But she also recognized something else, the old Sophie would run away but not she. No longer and not before him.

Even on his knees and unable to fight for a moment, Gregory Bell, was still a terrifying mammal. Appearing here in the half dark of the autopsy room more like a savage tiger than an old lynx.

"Stupid girl...Arghhhh...You...You should've run to your fox before it was too late!"

Half a minute, more wasn't necessary to leave the room, enter the hallway of the funeral home and walking over to the Bell mansion. Sophie would be saved as soon as she left the room, but she didn't want to.

Sophie wanted to fight and didn't care if she would make it alive out of this room or not. The rage, which was still screaming in her mind, was consuming every other rational thought and left her just with one choice and that was to fight.

Even the how was no longer a question for her when she touched her chest if he had broken any of her ribs, Sophie also came with her right paw across the pockets of her dress and in the right one was still the knife Adrian had given to her. It was her chance to end this.

'He said just in case...but I guess this is the case for which he gave it to me.'

Trembling and still coughing, Sophie stood up and faced slowly the monster she wanted to defeat. With both paws around the hilt of the knife, from which the left one was not really helpful, Sophie walked towards Gregory who still seemed unable to move. Grinning, he looked up to the young leopard as if he enjoyed the pain somehow.

"So, you want to kill me, kitten. Have you really thought that through?"

"You... you'll die and atone for the things you did to my family."

"Oh, so you finally decided?"

Sophie switched and held the blade now just in her right paw. Trembling she looked into the eyes of Gregory and searched for any sign of fear, but there was nothing. It was as if he would enjoy this little fight and that scared her even more.

"You know, killing is about making a choice. Between your life or the one of your enemy," Gregory explained. His voice was normal again, and even the growling had disappeared. Sophie stood with raised and trembling paw before the Butcher. Waiting for the right moment.

'Do it! Do it! Do it,' The voice in her mind commanded, but somehow her paw wouldn't move.

"Let me give you one good advice, kitten, about killing mammals…"

"What?"

"Never...hesitate."

The words were out but before Sophie could even process them was Gregory already with his right paw around her throat and his left paw around her right wrist. With almost no effort, he yanked her up and walked her through the room. Sophie tried desperately to move the knife in any direction but it was no use, his grip was way too tight and strong to overcome it.

'No! No! No! Please, no why has this to happen? Why couldn't I do it?'

When Gregory was in the middle of the room, he slammed Sophie hard on one of the metal tables. Her head began to swirl, and for a moment she lost the orientation in the place until Gregory grabbed her face with his right paw. The old lynx was now exactly over her, almost lying on top the young girl.

"Did you really think you could win? Tsk, you're as stupid as your brother was. And this knife? I bet the fox gave it to you...yes, that would fit the bastard."

With a lot of force, Gregory slammed Sophie's smaller paw down on the metal ground. One, two, three, four times, until Sophie let go of the blade with a painful howl.

"Yes, that's how I like it. Scream little kitten, scream," Gregory said and laughed just inches above Sophie's face. She could feel how fear and rage fought inside of her, and she knew she would be finally lost when fear would win.

"Tell me, kitten, do you want to hear the end of the story?"

"D… d … do I h-have a choice?"

"Of course not. Your daddy held out till the end. A brave mammal who watched what happened to his wife but I guess it broke him in the end," Gregory explained, and Sophie felt again how the anger in her came back, and she began to struggle under his weight. But it was no use. Sophie could try to fight him off as much as she wanted, he didn't give in. Crying, she realized that a minutes ago was her only attempt to end it.

'And I have wasted it...stupid Sophie. Who knows what he will do with you now.' Her voice chastised.

'You know what he will do to you know...it's not the first time that someone tries,' The voice in her head said.

"W-What did you do to her?"

Gregory leaned now even closer to her until his muzzle was directly beside Sophie's left ear. With his right paw, he held now her own right paw tucked under her head, taking her only way of fighting back. A sick feeling spread through her when he began to whisper, there was no need for explanations, she knew already what he did to her mother and what he wanted to do to her now. She could hear it, but even more, she could start to smell and feel it.

"Your mother was a fine female, oh yes she was. Tried to fight back...at the beginning. But not long and she gave up like all of them," Gregory said, and Sophie felt how his left paw touched her chest and made his way down her body, inspecting every inch of her. A shiver of disgust followed directly after his first claim of her body.

"NO!"

Sophie shouted and tried to come free but again the strength of the butcher was too much for her to overcome. Like a mountain, he stood above her and looked down to the small mammal she was.

"Ohh, there's still will to fight left in you. Impressive, "Gregory replied and grinned down, "You know, Kitten, I think it's only fair when the daughter has the same fate as the mother. And to be honest, I prefer the younger girls of your age over the old ones. The likes of you are unused and tight."

Panic started to dwell in Sophie when she heard his words and felt how his paw was sliding from her ankle over her lower leg. Lifting the skirt of her dress. With every inch he came with his paw closer to his aim. The smell of an aroused large feline was in the air, and the young leopard understood clearly her current situation. In a desperate, she used her last strength in an attempt to press her legs together. By now, Sophie tried everything to buy herself more time.

'Adrian will come. He promised me…"

"NO! STOP!"

The paw of the lynx had by now reached Sophie's knee, and at first, he tried just with a little force to spread them apart, but Sophie held with all strength that was left in her against him. Growling in anger about the reluctance of the young leopard, Gregory turned to her and spoke, "With every minute you try to fight back, I'll get angrier. And, girl, you don't want to witness me when I'm furious!"

By now, Sophie's skirt was above her knees and his left paw halfway up her thigh. If she hadn't heard a clicking sound behind him and smelled the scent of a certain fox through all that chaos around her, she would have started to scream. Even Gregory recognized the mammal beside him, and he knew that tables had turned.

"I know that you're a sick mammal, Gregory, but girls? You disgust me…," Kingfisher spoke beside him, the same gun in his right paw with which Sophie not long ago had killed her brother in defense. The black gun was pointing towards Gregory's head, "Move your paw on inch higher up her thigh, and you'll lose one of your ears."

"As if you would really shot…," The butcher began to speak and just went on sliding down on Sophie's smooth fur, taking the words of the fox just for a bluff. A second later echoed the sound of a gunshot through the silence of the autopsy room, followed by the screams and moaning of Gregory Bell, who let go of Sophie and went for the second time this day down on all fours. Howling in pain, Gregory held his right ear cupped with his paws. Blood was dripping to the ground and created a puddle of the red liquid.

"You damned fox...you'll regret this…," Gregory murmured to the ground but the fox had turned his attention to Sophie, but his gaze and his gun were still pointing towards the old lynx.

"Are you okay?"

For a moment, Sophie just stared at him and couldn't believe that he really came to save her. Her! A kitten from the streets of Zootopia. She wanted nothing more than to hug him before she closed ashamed her legs, realizing her current position, she quickly pulled up her skirt.

"Y-Yes, I think I'm okay so far," Sophie replied with a light smile and crawled from the metal table with shaking paws and legs. Instinctively, she stood herself behind him and took a deep breath. Sophie recognized that Minerva was standing the door frame and looked at her with an apologetic look on her face, behind her two other lynxes in black suits.

"Ohhh, you'll regret this fox. We'll hunt you down with everything we got, and when we have, you'll squeal like a little girl," Gregory explained and stood up, no longer cupping his right ear and revealing the place where once his ear was, all that remained was a bloody mess. The entire right arm of his suite and the white shirt underneath were drenched in his own blood.

"No, Gregory. Nothing like this will happen," Minerva spoke from the entry of the autopsy room and walked in, the two other lynxes followed her in silence.

"What do you mean, Minerva? Are you gonna let him get away with this? He disrespects me, he wounded me, and now you'll do nothing," Gregory asked but was interrupted by his niece, "Oh, don't worry. I do something… I'm expelling you, Gregory. From this moment onward your no longer a part of this family."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"I already did! Because enough is enough!"

The old lynx grunted heavily but waited before he answered his niece and head of the Bell family.

"You throw me out of my own house? Which I have built together with your mother, my dear sister? Believe me, Minerva, you'll regret this decision. Are you sure you want to go against me? Turning against your own blood and family because of a fox and a leopard? Strangers with no ties to us?"

Gregory pointed with his bloody paw at Kingfisher who instead had still his gun aimed at him. Walking to Kingfishers side, Minerva stopped with crossed arms and looked angered at the old lynx. Sophie had the feeling that Mrs. Bell had finally enough of her uncle and his trouble making behavior.

"I have more to consider than just our family, Gregory. The prosperity and peace of the whole city are at stake. Why do you think I united in the last year all the crime syndicates and families under my paw? Why do you think I created all these rules that stopped us from behaving like savages who murder each other over the control of some streets? Because it's fun? Certainly not and you destroy everything and take whatever you want, just because you think you still live in the old times!"

Slowly walked the old lynx over to Minerva, his gaze completely locked on her. Gregory didn't even seem to recognize the gun that was pointed at him. Sophie saw clearly his cold eyes and how he looked down at Minerva.

'He has the same gaze as my brother at the end of our time together...,' Sophie thought and felt how a shiver went down her spine. She took another step forward and was now almost touching Kingfisher's back, but the fox didn't seem to mind.

"Why don't you kill me, Minerva? Here and now? Because that's what you really want, isn't it so?"

"Yes...I would like to do so."

"Then why don't you do it?"

"As I said, Gregory, I made rules and what a hypocrite would I be if I wouldn't stick to them?"

A chuckle came from the old lynx but developed fast into hideous laughter. By now even the two guards had turned their head to the ground. Just Kingfisher and Mrs. Bell were looking at Gregory.

"Hilarious," Gregory said.

"What," Mrs. Bell asked, slowly annoyed by the words of her uncle.

"You speak about the city and how everyone is depending on you, that you're responsible for its sake and what not. Makes you almost sound like the mayor or some cop, darling. Let me tell you something, my little niece, that you have seemed to forget...you are not. You're a gangster, your mommy was a gangster, your grandfather and so much more of our family. We do whatever we want because we have the power to do so and we bent to no rules...not even our own."

"Enough! I don't want to hear any more of you. I give you twenty-four hours to leave this house, Gregory," Mrs. Bell yelled at him.

"Don't worry, give me five minutes, and I'm gone," Gregory said, turned around and went towards the hallway to the mansion but stopped at the door," Oh and one last thing. I promise you that you'll regret what you did today. This family was my life, Minerva. And I'll either get it back or burn everything to the ground. But don't worry, it will happen slowly, so you can watch and cry about your loss."

The door closed and everyone, except for Kingfisher, took a deep breath. Mrs. Bell looked incredibly tired but went immediately back to her role as the head of the Bell family.

"Steven, Paul? Follow him and make sure he leaves the mansion."

The two lynxes nodded and went right after the designated uncle. Mrs. Bell observed until the two left the room before she did anything else. When the door closed, Mrs. Bell went instantly down on her knees and took Sophie in a tight embrace. Even the young feline was confused about the sudden affection but accepted it without a second thought and responded in the same way.

"My dear...I-I'm so sorry. Are you...I mean...Did he?"

Mrs. Bell took a step back and went with her paws carefully over Sophie's head, throat and arms, to check if she was hurt. What followed was a long look at the leopard from head to toe, but she needed Sophie's own words to convince the female lynx that everything was more or less okay.

"What? No! No, no, I fought back and...and I think I'm fine...but thank you, that you two came to save me," Sophie said and got a heartwarming smile from Mrs. Bell and a reply from Adrian, "I told you that I wouldn't be far from you and watching your back."

Adrian put his gun finally back into his half-hidden holster on his back and laid one paw on Sophie's shoulder.

"Hummingbird and I will be leaving for today. I think giving her some rest would be the best for now," Adrian said, and Mrs. Bell nodded in agreement, "Of course, Adrian. Sophie, please take care of yourself, and if you need anything, you know where to find me. Okay?"

"Yes, thank you, Mrs...I mean, Minerva," Sophie replied and smiled up to her worried face.

"Adrian…," Mrs. Bell began, but Adrian was faster, "I know. You should go back to your guests and explain the situation. If you need me or need to talk, I guess Hummingbird and I will be in our apartment around seven. We'll get the coats tomorrow."

"Alright...Have a good day, you two."

"And you as well, Mina," Adrian replied and started walking to the door. Sophie followed him but turned for a moment around and raised her paw to say her goodbye to Mrs. Bell with a forced smile. When she turned her gaze back to Adrian, her eyes also passed the body of her brother, who still laid lifeless on his metal table and seemed as if he was just sleeping.

'Bye Robert, I hope you've found your peace,' Sophie thought and followed the fox.

Sophie and Adrian left the autopsy room through a door which was close to the one of Mrs. Bell's office but led the two through a corridor and then directly into the exhibition rooms of the Bell funeral home. The bright showroom was over and overfilled with expensive looking coffins, urns, grave ornaments which contained a letter with the blessing of the three goddesses and also tombstones in every form and out of every possible material for such an object.

Sophie could already see the entrance of the showrooms and the parking lot behind it. Their car was covered in thick snow but all in all, it seemed just to be waiting for them. On their way out they passed a lot of expensive looking coffins. Most of them were made out of maple, oak, cherry or even mahogany. With a sad gaze, Adrian looked at the coffins and said, "I think I'll never understand why mammals would want to bury their loved ones in this expensive monstrosities. Dead is dead."

Sophie had never thought about this, not that she had any contact with funeral homes in her past, "Maybe...maybe they just want to express their feelings for the deceased one?"

"A noble thought, Sophie...but the thing I witnessed more than once is this, the more expensive the coffin was, the less cared the relatives during his life for him."

"That's...sad."

"Yes...yes it is."

Both left the building through the main entrance and walked towards the cold snow which was by now high enough to cover half of Sophie's calves. Adrian recognized at first that someone was waiting at their car and moved his right paw in a fluid movement to his gun but didn't pull it.

When they were close enough, Adrian shouted over to the mammal, which leaned against the car and looked up into the sky.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

The hyena had at first just eyes for Adrian and where the paw of the fox went. He was still in the same gray suit, but it looked now in the fading daylight torn and needed to be fixed on several places. He seemed not older than nineteen and Sophie bet he was like herself not long in this kind of community. His swollen eye was by now so bad that he could no longer open it for at least a few days.

Sophie saw that this was the hyena she had saved today, but she had no idea what he wanted from her. The mammal also seemed to be paralyzed by Adrian's view and so Sophie answered for him.

"His name is Lucas Ortega...he's a member of the Ortiz cartel and the one who almost got his paw impaled by the Butcher."

A short glance that was all Adrian gave Sophie, but she knew that he was surprised by her knowledge.

"Fine, that clears out the who but not the what. Come on, speak Lucas," Adrian said and made another step towards the panicking hyena.

"I...I...I j-just want to talk to her for a moment. That's all," Lucas said and nodded towards Sophie.

Annoyed about the distraction, Adrian turned his gaze back to Sophie and he let her make the decision.

"Okay, but just for a few minutes," Sophie replied and watched how Adrian turned to the car. The clouds still hang dark above them, but the snow had stopped for now.

"Fine, I'll prepare the car…," Adrian replied and began to free the car from the freshly fallen snow.

With crossed arms, Sophie stood beside the vehicle and made no efforts to walk any closer to the hyena. Lucas, however, who seemed to find the situation awkward stepped closer until he was just two or three steps away from her.

"Well…, you see...mmhm...I-I want to thank you for what you did. There aren't many mammals who would've helped me in that situation...and...and...without you...I guess I would have a huge hole in my paw...heh," Lucas laughed awkwardly but even after this all he got from her was the same forced smile from Sophie to which she was still capable after such a day.

Lucas cleared his throat before he made another step towards Sophie and stretched one paw out to her. Confused, Sophie opened her own right paw and waited for him to drop something in it. Something light and cold was laying in the palm of her paw, and when she looked at it, she saw shining silver on her dark paw pad. It was a necklace with a small two-dimensional figurine at its end. The figure itself was a swimming swan which laid his head back into an arch through which the delicate silver chain went.

Fascinated by the beautiful piece of jewelry, Sophie turned it over in her paw. Her smile vanished when she saw the name engraved on the back of the piece. Meanwhile, Adrian had finished his work and leaned against the hood of the car, waiting for her.

Calm but determined, Sophie asked," Where do you get this?"

"That? I-I found it."

"You found it? Where?"

"Look...does it really matter where I found it?"

"YES...," Sophie became suddenly loud, and even Adrian looked worried over to her, "...Yes, it is important. Because this piece belongs to Mrs. Bell's daughter. Here! Look! Even her name, Meredith, is engraved on the back!" Sophie shouted at him and showed the backside of the silver swan before she closed her fist around it.

"Okay, listen. I-I just found it...that's all. Nothing to be upset about...I mean nothing happened, alright?" Lucas said in his defense and made two steps back. The fox still leaned against the car and watched the hyena with a dark gaze.

"Nothing happened? Nothing happened!"

Sophie yelled. Her voice was shaky, and her lips were trembling, but she was still walking, "I almost got raped because I stepped in for you! But he was right! You're really just a thief!"

"No! I-I'm no thief...I really just found it."

"I don't care if you have stolen it or if you've found it. You shouldn't have taken it. It didn't belong to you," Sophie said and walked to the passenger side of the car. Adrian recognized this and got behind the wheel. Luas, however, run after Sophie and held her at her right paw, just when she entered the car.

"Wait! I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like this…"

"Let go of my paw," Sophie replied coldly, and Lucas dropped it immediately together with his ears, "I'm sorry...What...what will you do with it now?"

"I'll give it back to its rightful owner," Sophie replied but still held the door open to hear his reply, "Could you...maybe...not mention my name?"

"Idiot," Sophie replied and closed the door behind her. Lucas stood maybe for another half minute in front of her door before he finally left. She took a last look at the necklace before she put it into the pocket of her dress.

"Are you okay, Sophie?"

"More or less...yes," She replied with a tired voice and stared out of the window, over to the others mansions in the near and tried to think of nothing but it was difficult after such a day, and too many things went through her mind.

"You're taking this pretty well for an almost-thirteen-year-old girl," Adrian pointed out.

"This...wasn't the first time that males approached me this way. The last time, I could free myself before anything happened, but I cried for days and didn't want to leave my hideout...Well, that worked until my hunger forced me out."

Adrian started the engine and drove slowly back to the street, "It's good to hear that you're fine...And you fought back well, but please in the future don't trust any of them, at least not until you know them well enough."

"Why should I trust you then," Sophie asked annoyed but regretted her question instantly. To her big surprise appeared a smile around his muzzle. It was one of his charismatic ones, which he just used for female mammals.

"Because I will tell you everything about me," Adrian said and drove straight on a crossing where they had to turn left.

"Wait, that's not the way home? Where are we going?"

"I'll show you something," Adrian replied but saw Sophie's worried gaze and soothed her with a smile, "Don't worry, no more crazy, old lynxes for today. Just a little detour and a story."

"What story?"

"Mine and you're the first mammal who will ever hear it...at least a part of it."

Sophie was curious now and thought about all the different things that Adrian could tell her about his past.

For a while, Adrian drove slowly through the snow-covered Zootopia and passed on his way old buildings and some smaller factories, until they entered a district through which Sophie sometimes walked during her year on the streets. This part of the town had once the name Malice but was now renamed into Bell's Kitchen. Adrian took a look at the watch on the dashboard and slowed down the car. The sun was gone, and darkness was coming over the city. He stopped the car for a few minutes before he began. His voice was calm, and Sophie felt that he tried to be completely open with her.

"My story didn't start here in Zootopia, and the reasons why I left my original home and family is a story for another time, but…," Adrian told and turned into a parking lot next to the sidewalk before he stopped the engine. Around them were just houses in many different colors and orange glowing street lamps, "...I can tell you that my original family is the target I'm after. They were also the ones who trained me and taught me everything I know now."

"What? Which family would do something like this?"

"Mine, I guess. Anyhow, they took something essential from me...something for which I'll never forgive them. Not for all the money in the world. But for now, I can't do anything against them...It would be like a fight between an ant and a bee hive."

Carefully, Sophie turned to him and asked, "Did you lose something or...someone?"

For a moment, Adrian just smiled at her, "Mina is right, you're too mature for your own good...Anyhow, yes, it's about someone. Someone who meant everything to me...but that's not the point now."

Adrian turned his head and looked for a moment over to the other side of the street but there was no one to be seen, and so he continued to tell his story.

"I left my original family behind when I was fourteen years old and lived from that moment on every minute just to plan my vengeance. Five long years, I wandered through the world just with this one aim in my mind, and I don't even try to fool you, I did a lot of horrible things to gain the money I needed. Finally, at twenty years of age, I arrived here in Zootopia and began instantly to follow my plan until…Well, until I met her," Adrian stopped and looked at first to his watch on his left arm and then out of the window. Sophie saw that at least one middle-sized mammal was walking down the sidewalk, but she couldn't clearly see who it was until the mammal stood for a moment in the light of an orange streetlamp. It was a vixen with a small bundle in her right arm and a little toddler on her left paw. For a moment she gave the small bundle to her older child and searched for something in her bag.

Adrian chuckled and closed his eyes. With a shaking head he said, "Oh, my dear Emilia, you always forget to put the keys in the pocket of your jacket before you left the restaurant."

With wide eyes, Sophie watched the three mammals, "Is that...your wife?"

"Yes...and my son Nicholas, who is holding right now my daughter Patricia in his arms."

"What...what happened?"

"What always happens. Male meets female, and they both fall in love. When I first met Emilia, I forgot everything...the vengeance, my past and most of all my plans. The first time was like a surreal dream for me, in which everything seemed possible, and instead of making revenge plans, I made plans for a wedding, children and a future I could never imagine before. We married and shortly after my son, Nicholas, was born. Those were two of the greatest days of my life and marked just the absolute high points in those five years of happiness. I already worked for Minerva in this time, but it was nothing too big I did, and so I began even to think of opening my own store, a bookstore in the middle of the city. I even looked at some location with Emilia. And you can't even imagine how happy we were, when Emilia and I got the news that she was pregnant with our second child, yes we also learned that she would be born with congenital heart disease, but I didn't care. I had the money...she would've gotten the best treatment possible...Despite those problems, it was an almost perfect time," Adrian explained with a genuine look of happiness on his face while he looked out of the window, over to his family.

Emilia seemed to have found what she was searching for in her bag and took the little cub back into her right arm and her son began to run up the steps to their house. From what Sophie saw was Emilia a young and very pretty vixen in her early twenties.

''I guess it needs more than a pretty face for you, to fall in love with someone," Sophie said and looked to the still smiling fox, who chuckled, "Oh yes, there's so much...she's honest to the core, stubborn and nobody, not even the biggest mammal could ever forbid her to speak. She's caring for everyone, a loving mother. She loved to make me smile and she could tell you the dirtiest jokes I ever heard. But she's also easily miffed and if she had made a decision, nobody can change her mind. I would say, she's truly unique...and I love her and my children still more than anything."

Even Sophie had to smile about the story, Adrian had told her, but when she looked over to the fox, she saw how his facial expression had darkened. The door to the house closed and in various rooms began lights to be switched on.

"What…," Sophie began but broke her sentence because she feared to hear the end of a story she didn't want to ruin by reality.

"You want to know what happened, right?"

Adrian asked with a bitter smile, and Sophie nodded as a reply.

"I couldn't let go of the past, that's what happened. It all went south on one single Saturday. You have to know, that I spent most of my weekends just with my wife and son, but Emilia who was at that time already a while into her pregnancy didn't felt so well and stayed home," Adrian made a short break and took a deep breath, "I'm not proud of myself, but I always trained Nicholas as my successor because I still had this stupid idea into my head. Nothing big, I taught him little things, for example, to assemble and disassemble guns, which was a task he learned in no time. My boy always had quick fingers," Adrian said with a chuckle, when he seemed to think back to a certain memory," I once taught Nick to make a coin disappear in his paw. He needed three tries to make it work and an hour to perfect it. It's incredible how fast kids learn in that age...and, ooh he knew how to use it! Mostly to make sweets or candy disappear...An ability that made Emilia almost go crazy."

Adrian chuckled softly when he told that story and looked at his paws on the steering wheel.

Sophie felt touched by his openness and wanted to do something for him, after a minute she still didn't know what to do and did intuitively the most natural thing she could do and laid her left paw on his right one. The sudden gesture was something that made Adrian smile and let him fall silent for a few moments before he continued his story.

"We have spent those last day together, as father and son, on a nearby funfair...he scored better in a shooting gallery than I did. We had fun, Nick and I,...a lot of fun," Adrian said and took a last look at his own house, where the last lights went out, "...Anyhow, as soon as we came home, I felt that something was off. It was quiet in the whole house, so I brought Nick to bed, who already slept in my arms and searched for Emilia. I found her, after a while, in our bedroom, crying. She had found my stuff from the time before I met her. All notes that I took during my five years of activity, two of my guns, and a plan I made long ago, how I could train Nick…I knew instantly that this wouldn't end well."

"But...why did you keep it? Nothing of this would've happened, and you would still be with your family!" Sophie asked annoyed because, in her eyes, she couldn't understand why he did this. For her it sounded almost perfect. Full of tension and curiosity, Sophie sat by now on her knees. Her breath was visible in the cold car, but right now she didn't care.

"Because of the same reason you stayed with your brother during this whole year. If you could, you would've abandoned your brother and began a new life on your own, and I would've destroyed my complete old life to give my new family a chance. But we didn't, and here we are. Two lost souls without any family."

"What happened after you entered the bedroom?"

"Emilia wanted to know how much of the things she had read in my notes were true and I replied as honestly as I could – everything. She asked me if my true name was Adrian Wilde and I replied again with the truth – no. Emilia felt betrayed and what should I say, she has every right to do so. When I looked right then, into her eyes and saw that she could never accept the mammal I was, I knew that it was over. There are some things, Emilia could never forgive, and that's dishonesty. Some part of me feared from the very beginning that it wasn't forever but from this moment on she could only see the monster in me. And I could only do what was best for the ones I love more than anything else…," Adrian began and took a deep breath, "...I did what my original family taught me. I played a role, and this time it was the part of the monster. The only thing she could see in this moment was a monster and that's what I gave her."

Adrian closed his eyes and Sophie saw that he clenched his right paw to a fist, "I told her that she was nothing more than just a cover for my old identity, a new beginning to make a new start in this town, Nick nothing but a pawn and my unborn daughter a disappointment in every aspect, even before she was born and that I could take care of the problem right after her birth. I wanted that she hated me more than anything in the world and it worked. Even for her advanced pregnancy, she was still a young and well-trained mammal, and before I could react she was before me, with a knife in her paw that she got from her father to our wedding...I guess the old man saw more in me than the love-blind Emilia."

Slowly, Adrian raised his left bandaged paw, "Anyhow, this cut is the last memory she gave me...but it's also one, I'll never forget."

"But...but...but...why? Why did you do everything so she can hate you...I don't get it," Sophie exclaimed. By now, she was sunken into her seat and looked with a confused gaze over to Adrian.

"It's easier for a mammal to hate you in order to let you go. You know, there's nothing worse than to lose someone you still love, and it doesn't matter how you lose him or her. I wanted to spare, my Emilia, from that fate…So, I left and never returned."

"But, you still love her! You torture yourself, every day!" Sophie yelled at him, but he kept staring out the window.

"It doesn't matter, Sophie. I made my decision," Adrian said and looked at her with his soothing green eyes and a calm voice.

"And...and...what will you do, when you see her one day again?"

"I'll do what I always do...I'll play my role and hate myself for the things I have to do to her."

Sophie was so agitated that she sat panting beside Adrian and tried to grasp at least one clear thought, but it was nearly impossible. Minutes passed in which the two sat beside each other in the cold car and didn't speak to each other. In the end, it was Sophie who spoke.

"Why can't we have a happy ending, where everyone lived happily to the end? Why is life so unfair? What did we do wrong?"

"Nothing...everything is just as imperfect as it ever was. But you make a mistake there, Sophie. Even if there is someday you like to call a happy ending, there will always be a day after and one after that and so on and so on. The show will always continue, and even the luckiest mammal under the sun will get from time to time a sunburn. We all suffer, some more and some less."

"But...but it's not fair."

"No...no it's not...but that's how it is."

Another minute passed before Adrian finally asked for what they really came here.

"This is my life until now, Sophie, and I want you to understand, we both lost everything, and some mammals want to hurt us. But still, I don't want you as my family, and I don't want you as a replacement for my own daughter. I also don't want you as my friend," Adrian explained, and Sophie didn't know why but the last words felt like a needle he had stung right into her heart. With tears in her eyes, she looked up to him, "What I want, is you as my sworn shield. Someone who is closer to me as any family can be. There will be no lies between us, and we will always come to aid the other no matter how dire the situation is. I will be there to fulfill your dreams, and you will be there to fulfill mine. If you accept, then we'll be like two sides of the same coin. What I plan is almost a clear suicide mission, and as ridiculous as it sounds, I want you as my partner, Sophie."

Touched by his words, Sophie moved her left paw to her heart and spoke, "What can I, a little kitten do? I'm a nobody…."

Sophie was a bit shocked when Adrian held her left wrist with his right paw, stern but gently. His eyes were no longer soothing but shining as if a fire was burning inside of them and when he finally began to speak a shiver went down her spine, "Never, and I mean it, never say that again. The heights of a mammal have nothing to do with the impact it can have on the world. And if you would know who runs this world, you would call yourself a giant compared to their broken morality. You can do more than you think, believe me, Sophie."

Just when he ended, Adrian was taking something from the left pocket of his suit and handed it over to Sophie, "Here, I think this belongs to you. Please, don't forget it again and one last thing...I think it wasn't fair to ask you if you would follow me before you knew anything. See this as the moment from which on you can decide what you'll do."

It was the knife, Adrian gave this morning to Sophie and which she tried to use against the Butcher but without success. Carefully, she took the sharp knife from his paw and held it for a while in her own paws, thinking about all the things, Adrian had told her.

'He protected me, he gave me this knife, so I could protect myself but even more important he gave me an opportunity to be more than just a little whiny kitten from the streets. He is the one who kept his word to me and who almost killed that monster...but he didn't kill the Butcher...so...did he do that for me?'

Adrian just wanted to turn the key in the ignition switch when Sophie began to speak," Alright, I made a decision. I'll become your sworn shield and your mine. But I have one wish…"

With a smirk on his face turned Adrian to Sophie, "And that would be?"

"Gregory Bell, you'll help me to get him."

"And then?"

"Then...I'll end his life. I, and no one else."

"I awaited no other answer from you, my dear," Adrian said and started the engine.

"What? No wise words how this will not free me from my loss about my parents or that it will not help me emotionally?"

"Why should I tell you, what you already know...and besides the damage is done. Your parents are dead, and yes it will not help you to overcome the hate, but it will help others that this monster is no longer walking through the streets of Zootopia raping, torturing and murdering other mammals. The ZPD will not stop him, and I don't know if Mina can, but I know you could."

"Could?" Sophie asked, when she recognized, that they were back on the street and on their way to their apartment.

"Yes, could. Because you need the training to take enemies down and this training will begin tomorrow," Adrian replied and turned left onto Main Street. Confused from this, Sophie replied, "Wait didn't you say, no training until our paws are healed?"

"That was before today. With Gregory out on the streets without someone watching over him...I want you prepared. At least in the usage of knives, guns and easily close quarter combat with one paw...and, of course, the normal cardio, muscle and flexibility training."

"So...no sleeping in, tomorrow?" Sophie asked with a tired smile.

"No, sleeping in for the next few weeks," Adrian replied with a similar tired smile.

Sophie was somehow excited to have a new aim in life, as bad as it maybe was to plan another mammal. She didn't know what would happen from here on, but she knew Adrian would be by her side, no matter what would happen. As they drove slowly through the dark city of Zootopia, the snow began to fall silently just like last night. And here they sat in a middle sized car, two mammals from different species who lost everything in a town that would soon start to change. For the better or, the worse. A last question went through Sophie's mind, that needed to be answered.

"Adrian?"

"Yes?"

"You'll never lie to me right?"

"Never."

And with that promise from the fox, Sophie turned to her right and looked out of the window, watching the town pass by.


	4. A Mammal and his Dream

**04\. A Mammal and his Dream**

* * *

"Again," Adrian said in a calm but definitive way. His breath was steady when he changed into a defensive position, with both of his paws slightly raised. Just like the mammal himself, his tail was calm and his eyes concentrated on the female leopard in front of him, who wore tight black shorts which went down to her knees and a purple sports top.

"Okay," Sophie replied under heavy panting to the fox in his complete black training shorts and t-shirt. For almost an hour they were practicing Aikido but that was just the last training for today. They began in the early morning with a five-kilometer run, followed by some strength training for every muscle Sophie knew in her body and new once she had just discovered.

'Okay, here we go again, Sophie. Never forget, you can't win right now but you can do better.'

She was fast when she rushed forward. Her right paw grabbed for Adrian's right wrist but missed it for some inches. The fox evaded the attack easily, took a step to the side and grabbed Sophie's left wrist instead. The grip of the fox was tight and much stronger than you would await from a mammal of his size. He pulled the young feline closer, ready to finish this round of their sparring match when she suddenly started a follow-up attack. Taking him into a lock, by grabbing his right arm with her left.

"Good. And now?" Adrian encouraged her, while Sophie's mind was racing what she could do next. She had learned in the last three months most of the grips and tosses you can use in Aikido but the complex thing was to use and combine them without thinking about it. Adrian always said she had to develop a natural flow for such things but she knew by now that was easier said than done.

"I...I'm working on it," Sophie replied desperately.

"You think too much."

"I know!" Sophie replied even more desperate.

"Then stop."

"I can't…"

A sigh escaped the fox and with one grab, Adrian could free himself from the lock. He wrapped his left leg around her right one and brought with minimal effort the feline to the soft ground. A moan escaped her muzzle when she saw that Adrian kneeled beside her. He had formed with his index finger and thumb a gun and tipped with it on Sophie's forehead.

"You're dead, Speckles," Adrian said.

"Thank you for telling me. I wouldn't have noticed without you." Sophie replied annoyed and covered her eyes with the backside of her paws. The bandage on her left paw was gone and the only thing that remained and would remain forever was a deep and uneven scar, that covered her whole paw pad.

"Tell me again the principles that I've taught you," Adrian said and walked from the matted floor to a table with some bottles of water on them.

Sophie sighed but began to speak after some delay, "Never attack an enemy directly or with brute force."

"Why?"

"Because most of the time, they will be bigger and stronger than we are."

"Good. How do we fight?"

"Passive. We evade the enemy wherever we can and wait for the right moment to strike a fatal blow. Either by gun, knife or at certain critical points of the enemy's body. Avoid direct hits, stay in the shadows and most important of all - think before you act." Sophie recited from her memory and sat herself up. Arms around her pulled up legs. With a smile on his face, Adrian stood before her and held a bottle of water in front of Sophie's face. The feline took it thankfully and drank half of it in one go.

Sophie's gaze went outside the large rows of windows. For a while, she watched the mammals on the other side of the street, where bears and hippos already worked on a new skyscraper. The two of them were still in the same building in which also their apartment was but on a lower level. Right now they were just ten floors above ground. Adrian had rented this apartment for training purposes and to store 'tools' for their work. For someone who entered the place without any knowledge, it looked just like a private fitness studio but underneath the surface, Adrian stored weapons, supplies, special clothing, documents for different identities and money in real gold as well as in paper money. All of this was worth multiple thousands of dollars but Adrian showed Sophie everything and even gave her keys to enter the place whenever she wanted or needed to. He even gave her a small safe filled with 10.000 Zootopia dollars in cash. An incredible amount of money for a young girl who lived not even half a year ago on the streets with nothing more to eat for several days than a half-eaten apple. Sophie did not need to use it, because for now, she could get everything she wanted by asking Adrian. The money in the save was for the case of an emergency and nothing else.

"Very good," Adrian replied and Sophie's attention began slowly to drift back. The fox took a sip from his water and sat down beside Sophie, who looked now at her arms. The fur on it was again shiny and in an almost perfect state. She had also gained weight in the last three months. At first, just to improve her starved body but with time and training, she changed most of that into muscles. Still, she was far away from the physical conditions Adrian was in but she looked no longer like a mammal close to death. In the firs

For a moment, Sophie looked up from her paws and over to Adrian. She even opened her mouth but closed it before she could say anything.

'I hope he didn't see that.'

"Ask what you want to ask," Adrian said and smiled at her.

'Ahh shoots...well here we go.'

"Okay...mmh...how... how am I doing?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I don't know... it's just that I'm terrible at Aikido, Judo or Jiu-Jitsu. I have the feeling, that I'll be no help when we go onto a mission." Sophie said and drank from her bottle another sip of water.

Adrian thought a while about her words and nodded before he began to speak.

"Listen, Sophie. You're very good with the gun. Assembling, reloading, aiming and what's even more important you hit the target with 88.4 percent accuracy after more or less thirty hours on the shooting range. That's almost, and I don't want to brag about it, my level. The fighting is something you have to learn almost like a language. You have to repeat it over and over again until you internalized it completely. Up to this point, you're doing well ...Don't forget, I've only been training you for three months. That's nothing. Where I come from it takes fourteen years to become an agent." Adrian said and smiled at Sophie, "For a mammal who has no experience so far and escaped death by starvation by a hair's breadth, you doing fantastic...but don't let this get to your head. Training and mission are still two completely different things. I've seen many mammals succeed in one but die in the other situation."

Satisfied with herself, Sophie tried to hide a big grin. It was hard but she managed to uphold her modesty. His last words came to her mind and made her think. How was his life until now?

'Fourteen years, huh? That's a long time...and he's still so young. Wait…that can not be,' Sophie thought and tried to understand what he just said.

"How...how old were you when you became an agent?" Sophie asked and looked at Adrian.

"Fourteen," the fox replied and Sophie saw how the smile on his face slowly vanished.

"Fourteen? That...that seems young. Doesn't it?" Sophie continued to ask, her eyes always on his face.

"Where I come from, you were born to fulfill a purpose...and mine was to become an agent. From the day I was born, they began to prepare me for my place in this world," Adrian told her. His emotions hidden behind a thick mask of grief.

Before Sophie could even ask another question, Adrian began to speak by himself, "I was an agent of a global organization, that is called the Last Order. Not many mammals knew about it and I will try to tell you everything I know about them...and I can tell you that the path to become a member of their agent ranks is simply insane. It starts with the simple condition, that you have to learn multiple languages at a young age and you have to master them to a degree that even a native speaker can't say if you're one of them or not. You have to take classes in acting, learning about the world, cultures, societies, and history. But that wasn't all. Every single day, we trained to use various weapons, tools, camouflage, etc and train our body to an extent that would no one believe."

There was no change in the expression of Adrian Wilde's face. Nothing. He didn't even blink when he spoke about his youth.

"How...how was it?" Sophie asked curiously but at the moment her words left her muzzle, she could already imagine the answer she would receive.

"In one word?" Adrian asked and smiled bitterly at Sophie, "Hell."

"As I said before, where I come from your whole life was predetermined. The training had absurd stakes and not one of our mentors showed any kind of mercy. If you made too many mistakes, were too slow or missed your aim one time too often - you died. Mistakes that were made by you, had to be corrected by you. No exception. For fourteen years, training and studying were my whole life and when you survived the apprenticeship and became an agent, well...then you were sent into the world to do whatever was asked of you. There was no light at the end of the tunnel just more death. Or let's say most of us had nothing to live for except to obey the rules. But I guess I was different. In contrast to all the other agents, I had someone at my side who was my light and I loved her more than my own life." Adrian ended and became quiet. He gazed now, like Sophie before, at the construction workers on the other side of the street.

"What happened to her?" Sophie asked carefully.

"She died...and it was my mistake, Sophie. Because I had enough of this life and wanted a new one, just with her. A life without the Last Order, without the killing and all the wacky nonsense we had to endure. A quiet life with just the two of us at the end of the world. We would have bothered no one. But I made the mistake to hold on to our dream and not to keep her safe. I valued the life we could have higher than the one she had." Adrian explained to her and Sophie could see the grief and anger of a whole life in a mammal who was barely ten years older than she was. She had no idea what happened back then and decided that she didn't want to know. At least not now. While she looked at the deep green eyes which were surrounded by russet fur, she understood something important about him. Whatever he wanted to do wasn't just about revenge but also the mammals he loved and wanted to protect.

"That's it! That's why you abandoned your family!" Sophie said and looked at him with one paw in front of her muzzle. Adrian didn't look at her, he just replied.

"I lost once everything that I loved and held dear in this world. I swore to myself, that things like that should not happen again...not to them." Adrian exclaimed and slowly shook his head. Without even thinking, Sophie moved closer to him and enclosed his paw with hers. He didn't move away. Carefully, the young leopard began to speak.

"I...I'm sorry that all those bad things happened to you, Adrian. I wish you could have it better." Sophie said and saw how Adrian glanced over to her.

"You know, this feels very strange to me."

"What do you mean?"

"No one has ever expressed their sympathy for me…or my...well situation," Adrian said and began to chuckle, "Well, on the other paw, you're the only one who knows all those things about me. So it's pretty much my fault that no one is pitying me."

Adrian laughed about it while he stood up but Sophie couldn't laugh at all. She could see that he had put on a mask again, 'Your hiding it. Just like you always do. You dumb fox.'

A dark red paw dangled in front of Sophie's eyes and she took it without hesitation. Seconds later both mammals we're face to face but Adrian didn't let go of her paw.

"Thank you, speckles."

"For what?"

"You know for what. And it means even more to me because it came from someone who went like me through hell," Adrian replied. Sophie could feel how a blush crept onto her face, followed by a smile.

They parted and Adrian took a look at his watch.

"Okay, Sophie. The training is over for today. Now, it's time to shower, gather some fine clothes and put on a happy face," Adrian said and turned to the entrance door. She followed him with her arms crossed behind her back and asking him in a curious voice.

"Where do we go?"

"Today, we will witness the daily work of the city council and how they rule."

"But...but didn't you say a week ago when the Zootopia Times reported that the investigation for bribed city council members was closed with no results, that they're all corrupt?" Sophie asked with a confused look on her face.

"Well yes… Maybe I was a little bit drastic. Their not all corrupt to the bone. Some still try to work for the city and the mammals who live here. There's one idealistic mammal in particular, which I want to meet. He has a very interesting and unique idea for this town that's so out of touch with reality, that it could work to change this town. For better or worse...I can't say for sure," Adrian said and locked the door to their training room behind them. Both strolled towards the elevator, which was at that time of the day almost always empty. Sophie pushed the button for their floor and grinned at Adrian.

"So...who's the first to take a shower?"

"Age over beauty, I would say," Adrian replied and showed the most seductive smile he had. Sophie could imagine very well how his wife could fall in love with him. With a smile like this, he could easily win the heart of any vixen if he wanted to...and maybe even the heart of some other mammals. A lynx maybe.

"Nope! Don't think I'll fall again for your flattering words, Mr. Wilde." Sophie replied and Adrian sighed.

"Fine, what do you suggest?"

There came no response from the young leopard. All she did was to hold up her left fist to the fox.

"Really? Tse, it seems you're still a child." Adrian said and shook his head while he chuckled.

"First of all, yes I am and second...do you know a better way to decide this?"

For a long moment, Adrian's green eyes remained on the leopard girl in front of him. Sophie saw that he was thinking about an alternative way to solve the problem, but there wasn't. In the end, he sighed and held his paw, which he had formed to a fist, up to Sophie.

What followed were three fast rounds of Rock Paper Scissor, which Sophie won with a big grin on her muzzle.

"Seems like this time its beauty over age."

"Enjoy it while it lasts, speckles," Adrian replied, while they walked out of the elevator and towards their apartment.

Sophie was faster than Adrian. She entered her key, unlocked the door but held the door handle down. The joy about her small victory couldn't be greater, when she turned to the fox, "Don't worry, I will. And I start with a hot shower and continue with choosing a cozy outfit for our day at the city hall."

"Better do that. I can assure you, that not just the halls are cold there."

In the end, Sophie decided on a knee-length grey dress with some long sleeves and her dark-blue coat on top. Adrian wore like always a black suit with a black tie. The time was almost 11 AM and not many mammals wanted to join the daily debate in the city hall.

The building itself was an impressive grey building, at least for a small mammal who visited the place for the first time. A wide staircase led every mammal to a forest made of marble columns and no matter in which direction you followed this path, the cold was always around you. It almost seemed as if it was impossible to heat this place to a degree that felt as if you don't have to freeze to death. She hadn't even taken her place on one of the wooden benches in the auditorium but she already missed the warmth of the hot shower she had taken not even an hour ago.

Together they strolled in search of a good view through the almost empty rows of wooden benches, which were lined up in a half-circle around a smaller number of desks and chairs for the council members. In the center of the room was the speaker podium. And in his back sat three of the most influential mammals in Zootopia - the High Council.

If there were two hundred mammals in the rows of the audience, Sophie wouldn't believe it. Less would be more likely but more and more mammals entered the audience area. A quick look around showed also a lot of empty seats in the ranks of the council. Just the high council with his three members was complete.

In the middle of the audience area, Adrian and Sophie sat down to listen to the current speaker. An old male deer, who seemed to reach the end of his monologue stood shaking like a tree in autumn behind the podium and spoke to the mammals like a preacher.

"...And because of this, I'll tell you, we should keep the street names we have and there's also no need for new streets. The ones we have are fine and trustworthy. Why wanting more, when we can be happy with the things we have? Look around you! Aren't we living in great times?" The old deer in his tweed jacket said and raised his shaky arms.

"Great times? As if. I almost died on the streets of this good-for-nothing-town and nobody cared." Sophie whispered slightly angered to Adrian, while she crossed her arms in front of her chest. The fox glanced just for a second at her before his gaze went back to the speaker.

"Let us not forget what made this town to what it is now... Consistency!" The deer took a break and waited for applause. Here and there began mammals to clap their paws but the resulting applause was so awkward, that Sophie began to cringe, "Thank you, members, of the High Council to allow me to speak my mind and of course, thank you, dear ladies, and gentlemammal." The old deer finished and began to walk slowly away from the podium with a crane in his right claw.

"Is that the mammal we're here for? I hope not…," Sophie cringed again and sat back. Her eyes began to wander through the rows of mammals, while her tail began to twitch nervously from one side to the other.

"You're too impatient, my dear." Adrian replied smiling, while he put one leg over the other and laid his two folded paws on his knee, "He should be the last speaker before the lunch break, and the only one who wants to introduce a legislative proposal. But that one will be mind-blowing for most of the oldtimers here...and maybe even for every other mammal in the hall."

"Mind-blowing? You really think so? That doesn't seem like the place to start with a big change. But I'm curious. What will he talking about?" Sophie asked and looked over to Adrian, who just smiled back at her while his gaze had wandered to the other side of the room.

"You will hear it in a few seconds because he just entered the podium," Adrian replied and nodded towards the right side of the rows, which was filled with council members. A young Capricorn of maybe thirty years stood up from his seat. Beside him sat a deer and an oryx who seemed to wish him success with his speech. The Capricorn nodded nervously back at them and held in his claws papers through which he flipped fast on his way to the podium. Sophie could hear some suppressed laughter on his way but couldn't say for sure from where it was coming.

"To give you a little context. The name of the Capricorn is Paul King. He was born and raised here in Zootopia, just like his father and his father's father. He didn't come from a wealthy family. All he has and all you can see here today, he became through his hard work. If anyone in this corrupt piece of city hall can say for sure that he loves this city and wants to make it a better place, it's him. No doubt about it. The slogan of his last campaign was, 'A better place for our future' and you can bet your last dollar on the fact that he would make this town a better place to live in if he knew the right mammals to help him." Adrian explained without taking his eyes from the podium.

Sophie's tail stopped suddenly to move and her gaze turned directly at Adrian, "We...we are the mammals who will help him, right?"

A smug grin appeared on Adrian's muzzle but his eyes didn't move an inch, "Clever kitten," he replied and that response made Sophie smile. Even a slight blush crept onto her face and ears but except for her sensitive ears, there was no red visible.

"But...but why should he need our help?"

"Just listen, speckles. I'm sure you can figure it out." Adrian replied and leaned back to make himself more comfortable on the bench. Of course, she followed his advice. At first, she had no idea what she should especially pay attention to but she guessed that time would tell.

Paul King seemed just slightly nervous when he entered the political battlefield. He took just a glance at the high council behind him, the act was just barely noticeable. While King took a sip from his glass of water, began a brown bear, who was the first of the three high council members, to introduce the Capricorn in a monotone but also humming voice.

"Ladies and gentlemammal, today we're listening to council member Paul King from the 23thd district of Zootopia and his proposal with the internal number... let's see 5467/A. His idea is about the restructuring and planning of future districts here in Zootopia. After that, the High Council will decide if the idea is worth a debate in the council and finally if the mammals of Zootopia should vote for it or not. Please, Mr. King, continue." The brown bear with the name Richard Johnson said while he leaned back in his chair folding his paws above his large belly. Sophie knew immediately that he was not one tiny bit interested in the idea, Mr. King wanted to share, regardless of what it was.

More and more mammals joined the ranks of the audience until every seat, staircase, and place at the walls to lean on were taken.

"Thank you, Sir," King said and cleared his throat. A deep and serious voice began to speak in a warning tone, "Residents of Zootopia and fellow mammals, I know that a lot of you love this town as much as I do. And I know that a lot of you are annoyed and angered about the stagnation this town is currently going through. And if we don't do something about the corruption that is paralyzing our city and council, then we will pay the price later on and even worse our children will pay double the price for our failure."

Murmuring went through the audience. Some mammals were even triggered to shout out loud things like, "Tell them!" and "Yes! End the corruption!". Even after five minutes the buzzing and murmuring of the mammals became louder and louder. High Council member Johnson saw just one option to end this and slammed his little wooden hammer several times on the table in front of him. The hammer looked like a toy in the massive paw of the brown bear.

"Silence! Silence, I say!" High Council member, Johnson demanded from his seat above Paul King. Sophie saw that the number of mammals had increased inside the hall and as it seemed were even more mammals from all sizes entering just now. Johnson directed his word directly at Paul King, who just looked into the large crowd of mammals in front of him, "Mr. King, you should be well aware that the City Council Committee against corruption had found no evidence in any of the cases...and you should also be aware of the fact that the council tries its best to end corruption wherever it appears. But please, go on with your proposal and try the next time not to address such hideous lies. Or do you wish to start a witch hunt in our ranks? I think not...so, please continue."

The crows began again to murmur, this time even louder some even booed against High Councilmember Johnson. A fact that irritated the old politician, who seemed to know until now just a more obedient audience.

With a smile on his face, Paul King turned around to the much larger bear and knew he had won this little battle. As soon as their gazes met, Sophie was sure that those two would never become friends during their remaining lifetime but no matter how the Capricorn was feeling he continued to smile and said, "Of course, Sir. My apologies."

King rose both of his arms and said to the mammals in front of him, "Did you hear that? We have nothing to worry about. No corruption and no problems. Like the previous speaker, Sir Brant said so perfectly, 'Aren't we living in great times?'. I think it's up to you to decide who's right and who's wrong...but I digress. Again my deepest apologies, High Council."

King took a sip from his glass of water and reached out for a remote control. He pushed one button and to his right lowered a massive white screen on which an overhead projector showed a map of Zootopia. At first, Sophie could just make out the half-island which was surrounded by the massive Zootopia Lake but after a few seconds, she located even more parts, the city center in the middle with some new skyscrapers, the docks and cheaper buildings to the east, the north with its large woods and some expensive mansions, the south where most of the new suburban area was slowly expanding towards the lake and of course the swampy no mammals land even further up in the north, where no one wanted to live, except for some farmers. Added to this were the two main roads and the railway lines that entered and left Zootopia in all cardinal directions.

"As you can see, we have here the current map of our beloved town, in which at the moment 1,68 million mammals live. Their size ranges from a mouse up to the size of an elephant. But I ask you...is this the best environment in which different mammals from different zones of the world can live their lives in the most ideal way? Is this what we want to bequeath to our grandchildren? Where is the courage that once founded this city with the aim that anyone could be anything and with no discrimination? I think our town can do better...I think our town can be a beacon in a world of crime and exclusion. A town with a clear message, where mammals from all around the world can come here to find a new home. They would be welcome to live, welcome to raise a family and welcome to do any job you can imagine! Ladies and gentlemammal, I present you the Zootopia of the future!" King ended and pushed another button on his control. The image changed and even though the border lines were still the same, changed the districts to something Sophie had never seen before in her life.

Where the docks were stood now the name Tundra Town, in the suburbs, where Sophie once lived in, stood now the term Savannah Central. From the west over the wild north existed a new place called Rainforest district. Sahara Square was just underneath Tundra town...even the swamp in the north would be rearranged to a place called the Meadowlands. All of this looked like a completely new town that could only exist in the wildest dreams of certain mammals. Sophie tried to process the information she saw in front of her and when she looked around, she didn't seem to be the only one. Just Adrian kept his gaze up and smiled.

'He knew about this and he also doesn't think that it's crazy...why does he want to support such a plan?' Sophie thought but she couldn't find any reasonable explanation why Paul King was so important for Adrian.

For the first time, the second High Council member, who sat to the right of Johnson, spoke directly to King. The Capricorn, however, looked like someone who had anticipated such a reaction. The name of the stag was Karl von Buelow, he was an elderly stag with large and impressive antlers. And as far as Sophie could see, he also wore a flawless dark-green suite.

"Interesting concept, Mr. King. But I don't think it's enough to divide the city into different districts and give them fancy names. Besides...a lot of these places you have planned are on my, Mr. Johnson's and on the property of a lot of other mammals. Why should we give away what already belongs to us?" von Buelow said in a voice that showed that he didn't originate from Zootopia but from somewhere in Midland.

"Two words, gentlemammal. Longterm. Profit. Yes, the property issue is still a problem but it is one that can be solved and maybe even through recompensation from the town. But, I have to correct you! Those aren't just some fancy words and lines over here. Every district you see resembles one distinct ecosystem. A desert will be created in Sahara Square, a wide steppe in Savannah Central, a frosty land of ice in Tundra town, the swamp in the north can be drained and reworked to something I would call the Meadowlands. The Rainforest district should speak for itself...and of course Downtown. All of those areas will be separated from each other through thick walls, that keep the climate in the distinct ecosystem, as well as producing the temperatures required for the area." Paul King replied with a smile but all Johnson and von Buelow did were to shock their heads in disbelief but they said nothing. In the end, it was the third High Council member who began to talk. Her name was Lucien Dephrain, an old widowed skunk who took over the work of her husband and his seat in the High Council. Like always, she dressed this day completely in black and had a stern look on her face.

"Mr. King, you should be well aware that I'm the head of Dephrain Electricity. The company that owns all three coal power plants in and around Zootopia and I can assure you that such a plan is utter nonsense. The amount of energy to run those climate walls exceeds by far the amount we could produce. The condition of the air is already in a critical state and those walls, not even mentioning the mammals who would move here, would need several more power plants! How can you even propose such an idea?" Mrs. Dephrain explained in a high voice and waited with a look that could kill if it was possible for an answer.

"That's a good question Mrs. Dephrain and also one that I will answer you immediately. To supply such a gigantic project with enough energy we planned to use various sources. At first solar energy will be a part of energy creation. It will be built into most of the new houses. Second, we wanted to use the several waterfalls which exist all around Zootopia and the main factor to solve the energy problem of course!" Paul King ended his little explanation with a little smile.

"Oh, the main factor? And what should that be?" Mrs. Dephrain asked while her eyes closed to little slits that she kept always on the Capricorn.

"I have some friends in central Midland who have already built the fourth working fusion reactor in the world. They say that their experience is now big enough to build a big reactor for a metropolis. And they want to do it here in Zootopia." Paul said but triggered immediately another question from Mrs. Dephrain, "And where do you plan to build such a futuristic monstrosity? I saw it nowhere on your map, which tells me that it would be somewhere outside of Zootopia or the Lake. Am I right, Mr. King?"

There was again this little smile on his lips. As if he already knew that he would win this little battle in front of the audience.

"I guess I have to disappoint you, Mrs. Dephrain. The plan was to build this 'monstrosity' underground. To be more precise, underneath of Savannah Central. This idea can only come true because Zootopia is not in an area where a lot of earthquakes take place. Still, if there would be a fire or other incident in the facility, the whole place can easily be flooded with water from the lake. You see, we thought of every possibility to not endanger any mammals here in Zootopia," Paul King said and turned around to the old skunk lady.

"It would be an honor, to answer you even more questions on that matter, Mrs. Dephrain."

Lucien Dephrain remained silent but her poisonous gaze spoke more at this moment than words ever could. Sophie heard the mockery in the words of the Capricorn and even so she was still a girl of fourteen years, she knew that Paul's last words were foolish. But the Capricorn didn't mind, he just went on, "Clean, safe and most important cheap energy for a whole town of mammals! And I know all of this sounds crazy but consider what we could achieve! A modern town, which is clean and ready for a generation of mammals with such possibilities. Isn't that a good start to make the world a better place? To shuffle the cards of every mammal here in this great town? What do you say, Zootopia? Are you with me and my dream?" Paul King had ended his presentation but it seemed that the audience still needed a moment to process what this mammal had just shown them.

There was a single pair of paws that could be heard in the dead silent hall. Sophie was astonished that the first one who clapped was no other than Adrian. Reacting as fast as she could, she joined the applause. It didn't take long before other mammals also joined, some of them even whistling or yelling. The volume in the hall reached after a minute a level which was almost deafening and took High Council member Johnson almost another two minutes to calm the people down.

"Silence! Silence! Shut up, I say," Johnson yelled and something in the way he did this Sophie didn't like at all and she knew after some seconds exactly why. It was the same way, how her brother always yelled at her when there were only the two of them and she had done something wrong or he did and needed somebody to take it out on.

"Finally! Dear audience. We, the High Council, will discuss the ideas during the lunch break and will return with our decisions in an hour." Johnson said and turned off the microphone, which gave out a last high pitched sound, that annoyed especially the mammals with a fine hearing in the hall.

"Wow! Did you see that? That's incredible and...and...Hey! Where are you going?" Sophie shouted after the fox but Adrian was already up and closing his suit jacket.

"We are going now to a business lunch and we better hurry to have something to eat before our appointment takes place," Adrian replied. Sophie had some real problems to follow him through the mass of mammals, who all wanted to leave the place and find something to eat. It took her all the way through the great hallways to return to his side. It didn't matter where she directed her ears too, everyone was speaking about the idea of Paul King and his dream of a new Zootopia.

"And with whom do we have a business lunch?"

"Let's turn the table, my dear. With whom do you think we will have a meeting? Or in other words...for whom are we here today?" Adrian asked smiling.

"Oh...okay. I get it." Sophie replied.

"Good girl."

"But why should he want to meet us?" Sophie asked.

"Well, he isn't aware of this but we are his only chance to realize his ambitious plans. You've seen it. Didn't you?" Adrian said with his arms crossed behind his back and his eyes gazing at Sophie.

The young feline knew of course what he meant. The left corner of her muzzle twitched slightly before a long sigh escaped her.

"Yes, I think I saw it. He has powerful enemies," Sophie replied and both followed the stream of mammals, pouring out of city hall and into the nearby restaurants and bistros to eat lunch. Waiting for the decision of the High Council.


	5. Unwanted but Needed

**05\. Unwanted but Needed**

* * *

Fredo's restaurant was some streets away from City Hall and because of that Adrian's first choice for the meeting with Paul King. Sophie needed some time to understand why he chose this place but a small hint from Adrian about his speech in the car shortly before they had entered the Bell Mansion some months ago awakened some memories.

Thinking about Paul King's speech she heard just an hour ago, Sophie was eating her Pasta and Adrian his Lasagne in a booth for four mammals, where both of them sat beside each other on the same side.

Sophie remembered Adrian's words from her first meeting with the criminal elite of Zootopia in the Bell mansion very well. How could she ever forget any details from that day?

'Observe your surroundings and think,' he had said. And as so often in the last three months she did just that before she opened her muzzle to ask a question she could answer herself. While munching down her spaghetti as graceful as she could, Sophie also began to inspect her surroundings. What she saw was an old, almost rustic place, which was several streets away from the main bulk of the mammals from City Hall and because of that not well visited. Fredo Moretti was the owner and namesake of the place. He was one of two badger brothers who was close to several gangster families and illegal activities and like his brother in his mid-thirties. Fredo served them personally and like always paid Adrian way too much for the tip. A typical sign for Sophie that this was a place where criminals met and where they had their little meetings from time to time and without disturbance

Sophie learned a lot of things incidentally and had by now a good idea of how the world of mobsters worked and one thing was for sure, most of the time it was not as in the TV shows her father loved to watch with her on Sundays. Criminals didn't meet in some dark backrooms or unused warehouses to make their deals. Most of the time, they met in public places like restaurants or bars, just like everyone else. It was logical and much safer for every participant involved. If a meeting really took place behind closed doors or away from the public eye, Sophie knew by now, that this was the moment when you should start to worry.

This here was Adrian's choice, it should happen in public but not too close to the masses.

The two of them sat both on the same side of a wooden restaurant booth, that was equipped with fine red ostrich leather and a view that showed the street in front of the establishment with a wide variety of mammals that lived their daily lives. Almost every mammal out there was still wearing warm clothes on this cold March day. Sophie could just barely imagine that with Paul King's plan coming to reality, she could wear a shirt and shorts - and that every day. It seemed unreal to her but she wouldn't mind living in a town that was always warm and cozy.

"So, what's our story?" Sophie asked, her muzzle almost as red as Adrian's fur from the tomato sauce on her spaghetti. Of course, he noticed this when he turned to her and couldn't suppress a smile.

"Eat up, Speckles, and clean your muzzle. Maybe, I will tell you then," Adrian said and chuckled while he raised his cup with the coffee to his muzzle.

Sophie, however, blushed unnoticed by Adrian and mumbled a shy sorry as an excuse. Eager to hear the plan of the fox, Sophie finished the last bites of her meal and cleaned her muzzle as fast as she could. Leaving only a leaf of basil on her plate.

"Okay, I'm ready."

"Good. Now, listen...Today we will use our codenames. I don't want to risk anything in this first meeting with him. Until now, I have watched him from afar, with no direct contact but I can give you, of course, some more intel about him – to complete the picture. Paul King is a humble guy in a literal sense or in other words there are no payments from companies, gang families, mobsters or other illegal sources. He's as clean as a whistle...even in his private life, in which he has two children with the same wife on which he had never cheated. Ánd before you ask, yes something like this rare for a mammal in his position...believe me power almost always corrupts the mammal. At least sooner or later," Adrian said while he took a sip from his black coffee. As soon as his mouth was empty, Adrian continued to talk, "By the way, did you think about a name you can use in public? You know it would raise too many questions if you continue to use your real identity...and at one point you also have to reenter school. Knowledge and connections are important."

Adrian had asked her this question already two weeks ago and since then she always felt empty inside her chest whenever she thought about the topic. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't say what bothered her so much to choose a new identity. She could be anyone she wanted. There were no limits and it was the ultimate she could do to show that she was truly independent but deep down she knew that she just wanted to stay Sophie Young and continue her old life. Sadly, this option was the only path she could no longer choose.

In the end, it was Adrian who pulled her out of her thoughts. As always.

"Look, Sophie... I can imagine that it's hard to lose the last connection to your family and your own past, but please don't see it as an end and more as a new beginning. Do you think you can do that?"

He had nailed it perfectly but this wouldn't help her at all. Knowledge was one thing, acceptance something completely different.

Sophie dropped slowly her head and replied in a monotone voice, "Yeah...I think I can do this. But...but I don't like it. You know, I liked it to be Sophie Young from the Southside of Zootopia...but I also understand that my old life has somehow ended in that gatehouse together with my brother."

Tears began to gather in Sophie's eyes while she watched mammals passing by on the street.

Adrian had never heard or seen her as sad as in that moment, not the time she awoke in her new life and also not when he had saved her from being almost raped by the infamous mobster – Gregory Bell. In fact, she sounded almost broken. Adrian laid his right paw on her shoulder and continued in a soft tone.

"I know it's not much but if it makes you feel any better...you will always be Sophie Young for me. If no one else can, I will always remember the little spotted feline girl from the south of Zootopia who smiled most of the time a little bit too bright. Despite all the things she had to endure in her short life...Do you think you could give me one more of your adorable smiles? Hmm, speckles? Ahh, there it is. I knew it wasn't lost forever, " Adrian said and smiled too when he saw how Sophie's face brightened up over his words. There were still some tears in her eyes, which she tried to wipe away.

"You damn old charmer. You do know how to cheer up a female mammal," Sophie replied with a chuckle.

"If mammals like you and me are forced to abandon our old life, I think we should've at least the freedom to choose whatever name we want for our new one. Don't you agree, " Adrian asked and nudged his shoulder against hers in a chummy way that made feel somehow less alone.

"I guess you're right," Sophie replied with a smile on her lips and took a deep breath, "Okay, so...Do you wanna hear what I have worked out so far? I know I should create my own backstory...and you said the best way of doing this is using the truth to a certain degree. Right?"

"Right, but please begin whenever you're ready," Adrian said and folded his paws.

Sophie had thought for a while about all of this and even so she wanted no matter how many names she tried, she always went back to a specific name. One that wasn't even too far from her original one. After clearing her throat, Sophie put on the same emotional mask Adrian was wearing much too often and began to speak in a voice that seemed to be made out of pure sugar. Adrian knew this tone by now and watched carefully how she played her role.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wilde. My name is Annie Sunderland. I'm an open-minded and curious girl from the South of North Mammelia, who lived since the sudden death of her parents with her uncle on a farm in the near of Jackalville. I don't know too much about my parents, because I was still a little girl when they had died in a terrible accident. The tragedy happened will they were in their car on a nearby road, not far from the farm where we lived with my uncle Stanley. After this, uncle Stanley was the only family left and he took care of me. He did this as well as he could and with all the love he had in his heart. It wasn't easy for him to send me away but he knew that I would need the best education I could get to have a bright future in front of me. With all the savings of my parents and everything he could spare himself, uncle Stan sent me to his old friend and former colleague, Adrian Wilde. And here I am. Ready to live this new life in the great city of Zootopia," Sophie said. For a while, both mammals just looked at each other, until Sophie became nervous.

"How...how was it?" Sophie asked after a while.

"Not bad...I almost believed you for a moment that uncle Stan really exists," Adrian said.

"Well, he did...Uncle Stan was the brother of my mum and...he died when I was eleven not too far away from his old farmhouse, just like I said. We went there every year during the summer vacations and I loved it. There was a small lake on his property. Nothing huge but enough to enjoy the hot southern sun even more," Sophie replied and smiled about her memories before she continued to speak, "Maybe I can one day return to the farm. You know, to see if everything is still how I left it... For me, it was always something special to be there."

A short silence took place between the two before Adrian spoke with determination in his voice.

"You will."

"What do you mean with that," Sophie asked confused.

"I promise you that we two of us will return to that farm...this summer for a short vacation. How does that sound," Adrian asked.

"That sounds too good to be true...but if it's somehow possible, then I would definitely say yes. Thank you, Adrian," Sophie said and both mammals smiled at each other like an old married-couple that agreed on their next vacation.

"Can I ask for something else?" Sophie asked.

"Sure, what is it?," Adrian asked back.

"I want a coffee as you have."

"You're sure?" Adrian asked back, looking at first at the white cup in his paws and then at the feline beside him with raised eyebrows. But all Sophie did was to nod with a bold smile, "Yeah, I think so."

Fredo who just walked past their table heard Sophie's wish and turned instantly to their table. With a professional smile on his face, he took the notepad and pen in his paws to write down whatever his guests wished for.

"What can I do for you, signorina?"

"I would like a coffee... just like his," Sophie said and pointed towards Adrian's steaming cup.

"Ah, si. I will get you one with almond milk or better a cappuccino? No! Now, I know what to serve you. There's probably nothing better for a young lady like yourself, than a sweet Latte. What do you say," Fredo asked in the kindest way possible but large feline eyes and a smug smile led the badger to the wrong conclusion. Fredo already began to write down his last suggestion, when Sophie started to speak.

"Thank you, sir. But no thanks. I just want a black coffee without sugar or milk," Sophie said and added with the sweetest smile she had, "Pretty please?"

Fredo sighed and turned his gaze to Adrian, probably with the hope to find help for his ideas. But even here, just a big smile greeted the badger.

"You heard the young lady, Fredo," Adrian said.

"Si...A coffee it is then," Fredo replied sighing and returned not even a minute later with a steaming cup of coffee in his paw, which he placed in front of Sophie.

"Thank you," The young feline replied and the badger left with a small smile on his lips the table, walking towards the bar while he slowly shook his head in amusement. Adrian to her left, however, just chuckled about the behavior of the restaurant owner. And after a short sniff of her drink, Sophie took a deep sip of the warm liquid. A small flinch flashed over her face.

"And? What do you say," Adrian asked, taking a sip from his own cup but his eyes remained on her.

Sophie licked with her tongue over her nose to get a better impression of the taste she just experienced.

"Bitter...but also...somehow satisfying. I don't know," Sophie explained with curled eyebrows as if she was confused about her own words. She took another sip and licked several times with her tongue over her nose.

"But the most interesting point is . . . do you like it?"

"Yeah...yeah, I do like it. It's not perfect but what in this world is?" Sophie replied when both of their ears turned towards the opened door. Words were exchanged and not long after that voices came closer and approached their table.

The face of Paul King was the first thing that appeared when he walked around their seat. The next thing they recognized was how fast his professional smile vanished when he saw the odd couple sitting there and waiting for him. Unsure what to do he just stood in front of their table and looked from Sophie to Adrian and back to the young feline.

"I'm not sure if this is a mistake or a joke here but... I thought I would meet today some mammals who want to support me and my idea?" Paul King asked, his coat laid neatly over his left arm as if he was ready to leave the scene at any moment.

"Don't worry Mr. King. We do want to support you and that in a way no other mammal in this town could or would. So if you're interested and could spare us some time, we could have a little talk which would be profitable for both of us," Adrian replied and Sophie could see how Paul King began to think. In the end, it was probably his curiosity about the odd couple that made him interested in the things the two wanted to propose.

"Fine, I will listen. But I can give you only fifteen minutes, so please don't waste my time or the time of the mammals who voted for me," King replied and turned his head to Fredo, "I would be delighted about an espresso, Sir."

"Si, signore," Fredo replied professional and went back to the bar, leaving the three alone. Paul King was definitely not happy about this surprise and showed his feelings with a loud sigh of annoyance.

"Okay, first things first...to whom am I talking here," Paul asked while he searched for something in the inner pocket of his suit jacket. With high interest, Sophie watched the Capricorn on the other side of the table. The item he searched for turned out to be a cigarette etui but not one of the shiny silver ones. This one was grey and probably made of steel. It had a lot of scratches and dents on it. Paul King seemed to notice Sophie's curious eyes that inspected the etui in his paws. He lit himself a cigarette, took a deep breath and began to speak with a smile.

"It looks like a piece of trash, right," Paul asked and Sophie nodded carefully before he continued, "I can't blame you. You see, it's a gift from my grandpa. He was a stonemason here in Zootopia and that's also the reason why it looks like this...well, partly. I loved my grandpa but he was a clumsy fellow. Always dropped something out of his claws and grandma hated it...but she loved him more than clumsiness. So, it happened a lot of times that whenever he was on a ladder or high up on a construction site his cigarette etui managed to drop out of his pocket...and he always picked it up. No matter how deep it fell or how often. He always picked it up. I often tell this story in interviews to explain why I fight so desperately for the mammals in this city... but as much as I love sharing family stories with strangers, please tell me you two. Who, in the name of the three goddesses, are you?"

The Capricorn took another deep inhale from his cigarette and leaned back. He knew he had done his part when his eyes rested on Adrian Wilde. Now it was on them to explain or better on Adrian.

'Should I say something? No, better stay quiet. Let him handle this...you're here to learn. Don't forget that,' Sophie thought and recognized that both of her paws grabbed the coffee cup a little bit too hard. The tension was still something she had to get used to.

"You can call me Kingfisher and the mammal to my right is Hummingbird," Adrian said.

At first, there was just an awkward silence between them. If Sophie had the choice to go, she would do so immediately. To hear that as an outsider...all of this sounded incredibly unreal with the code names and the meeting in a restaurant away from the public. It certainly didn't become better, when Paul King began to laugh.

Meanwhile sounded from the bar the noises of metal clangs and the hissing of the large espresso machine, that Sophie never liked. By now she knew she liked the output of the machine but not the procedure.

"Oh, mammal...Kingfisher and Hummingbird. What did I get myself into...Hah. Well, if that's what you're going with then you can call me Owl," Paul said, still chuckling to himself with no immediate response from the other side of the table. Sophie felt that he was taking them not serious and that made her forget her awkward feelings. In fact, it made her even slightly angry to hear him talking like this. She could feel how her facial expression changed to a bitter one but was surprised when she saw that Adrian just smiled as if nothing had happened.

"If you wish," Adrian said. It took the Capricorn a few seconds to accept the truth and sincerity mirrored in the face of the young fox but as soon as he did, his laughter died slowly down.

"Wait...you're really going with that? That's not just an elaborate hoax or a trick to damage my reputation," Paul asked while his facial expression shifted from amused to amazed until it stopped in an almost fearful sight.

"Yes, we are serious and no this is not a hoax," Adrian replied.

"Okay...then what is this all about," Paul asked and Sophie saw how the serious politician returned to the conversation. No more jokes, that part was over.

"This here is all about you and to raise the possibility that you'll succeed with your plan and start a golden era for this town or that you'll be forgotten by the annals of history as a dreamer and fool. The choice is yours," Adrian explained as drastic as he could, "And believe me the line between those two outcomes is very thin."

"I still don't see where you fit in the story?"

"We? Well, we will be the ones to help you stand on the side of the winner, of course," Adrian replied and took another sip from his cup.

Laughing and shaking with his head as if he still couldn't believe that the current situation was real, Paul looked the fox on the other side of the table deep in the eyes and replied cold.

"I don't need you."

"Oh yes you do and we're the only ones who can help. If you like it or not," Adrian replied. No words were exchanged for a moment.

The words of the fox seemed to have made their impact on the politician. Paul reacted stronger and more emotional than Sophie would have expected. It came so sudden that the young feline was startled by the Capricorn who seemed so balanced and calm during the whole discussion at the city hall.

"Listen closely, everything I achieved, I did so through my own work, my honesty, and my integrity! Because of that, I have the will of the mammals of this town on my sight! They voted for me, they believe in me and I will not disappoint them... I can not disappoint them by joining forces with...someone like you! Whatever you try to offer me," Paul replied half-loud. His breathing was fast and uncontrolled at this point in the conversation.

Silent like a shadow, Fredo appeared at their table and sat the espresso and the obligatory glass of water in front of Paul King. He left just as silent as he arrived and left the group with their conversation. As soon as Fredo was gone, Adrian began to speak, his eyes always on the politician on the other side of the table.

"Someone like me, hmm? Do you mean a shifty fox? Forget it. I'll let that slip for now...but please tell me how you planned on taking the power from the High Council to achieve your goal? As much as I remember, the rich and powerful have never given up something they already claimed as their own and why should it be different this time? Because you and the mammals of Zootopia say so? Get real and stop dreaming. What you got from the mammals of this city is the power to change something – yes. What you got from them is a metaphorical stick which you've taken and rammed down into the deepest depths of a beehive we all call the High City Council," Adrian explained and took a short break for another sip. He seemed completely calm and Sophie admired this level of control over his feelings. Paul King on the other side of the table seemed to begin to think about Adrian's words and remained silent when the fox continued.

"They're aware of you and that you're serious with the goal you're trying to achieve. But you also exposed yourself and all you have to fight them but that could be an advantage for us," Adrian replied with his right paw on his muzzle, thinking about the possibilities they had.

"Advantage? I never said that I would work with you," Paul King replied shocked about the idea to work with someone like them. For a moment, the fox and the Capricorn just stared at each other, until Adrian began to laugh.

"Alright, alright. Let me get this straight. You, who has no allies but some small politicians with almost no influence in this town and a lot of mammals who trust in you to do your work want to take down the High Council, who consists of powerful and ruthless mammals. Either they are mob bosses themselves, have strong ties to other mobsters in this town or simply the money to hire any killer they want? Is that correct," Adrian asked and for the first time, Sophie saw how worries and a hint of fear appeared on Paul King's face.

"I...I guess you're right. But I thought that they would do nothing to me when I stand in the focus of the public," Paul said.

"It doesn't matter how many eyes are watching you. At first, they will use every legal method they can think of to stop your project but sooner or later accidents will happen and mammals can go missing. Don't believe that they will go easy on you," Adrian said. His eyes still concentrated on the nervous politician in front of him, "You may not want us but you'll definitely need us or your family will have in one year no more father to take care of them or even worse you'll have no more family to protect."

Paul King turned his gaze away and watched the few mammals that walked on the sidewalks of the street and cars passing by.

"What do you propose?"

"We'll take the members of the High Council down or force them to resign as soon as we can and fill their seats with mammals we can trust and who will vote for your idea. Things can be arranged and the High Council members are not the only ones with connections to the criminal families of this town. As it happens, I have close connections to the Bell family, who could…," Adrian explained but couldn't end his sentence due to Paul who stood up in a rush. With a disgusted look on his face, he spoke to Adrian.

"The Bell family? Those killers? You really think I would work with the Butcher who killed so many innocent mammals in this town? No! I rather die as an honest citizen, than to work with such...such a monster," Paul shouted and stepped out of the booth to put on his coat. Sophie felt that the conversation was almost over and so did Adrian, who took out something from his jacket that looked like a business card but on it stood just a single telephone number.

Paul King grabbed his old metal cigarette etui and stuffed it into the pocket of his coat and drank in a single sip the espresso without taking even a glance at the water. He just wanted to leave when Adrian's stretched out arm with the business card in his paw blocked the way of the council member.

"You want to play in the dirt with the other kids but at the same time, you think you could come out of this whole story without a strain of dirt on you? That's not how it works. We all have to pay a price for the things we want and I ask myself that when the time comes to choose between the lives of your family and your dignity, what will you pick? Take the card and if you ever need my help or you changed your mind – give me a call," Adrian said without looking up to Paul. The Capricorn took the card and crumpled it down to a little ball of paper so that Sophie and Adrian could see it.

"No, I'll change this town for the better without getting dirty...I'm not like you," Paul said and went on, the only time he stood still for a moment was when Adrian gave him the last reply.

"Not yet but sooner or later we all get dirty. If we want it or not."

Paul King paid for his drink and was gone. There was no talk for awhile between the two. Both of them just drank their coffees in silence and left shortly before they would be too late for the continuation of the city hall meeting. Sophie thought at first that they would head home, maybe even do another hour of training but Adrian had other plans, he led them back to the City Hall and their old places on the cold wooden bench. The number of mammals around them was no comparison to her first minutes in here. The benches were full and even most of the stairs were occupied by interested listeners.

"Why are we here? Didn't he rejected us and your idea?"

"He may be crumpled the paper but he put it in his pocket. He's not so stupid to toss an opportunity away...or a lifeline," Adrian said.

The audience went silent as soon as the third ring of the bell announced the entrance of the three High Council members – the brown bear Mr. Johnson, the old skunk Mrs. Dephrain and the stag von Buelow. All of them had a pretentious little smile on their faces, it was one of those that Sophie liked the least on a mammal. Mrs. Dephrain was the one who began to speak to the audience in a high and amused voice.

"Mammals of Zootopia, we the High Council of Zootopia have decided about the proposal of council member Mr. Paul King. This one...well, it was a massive and innovative proposal that we would love to discuss with the whole council...," Mrs. Dephrain ended her sentence and took a short break during which the mammals who voted for Paul King went crazy over her choice of words. Shouting and applauding they celebrated the decision. Even Paul and his fellow council members shook each other's paws and claws to congratulate each other for the overwhelming success they had for their combined work.

Even Sophie couldn't suppress a smile when she looked over to the fox who had crossed his arms in front of his chest, "Seems like he will not need us."

"Wait for it."

Sophie didn't know what she should wait for and thought at first that he was probably just mad that his prediction was wrong but then Mrs. Dephrain began again to talk.

"However," Mrs. Dephrain said with a vile smile that made her look even older, "...we would love to discuss this outstanding proposal. Unfortunately... some of the pages of the proposal are missing or weren't even completed. Because of this we have to reject your idea. You can send in a new and reworked version with all needed papers in six months. With this I'll end today's meeting. Please have a nice day everyone."

The skunk ended and just as fast as they entered their seats the three High Council members were gone. The baffled audience needed a minute to understand that there would be no new law and they were back at square one. Shouts, whistling and loud discussion flooded the room. It didn't take long and a riot was beginning to form between the mammals in the audience.

Sophie saw that the one who suffered the most from this outcome was Paul King. He leaned onto his table as if he was hit by a hammer in his stomach.

"Come, we've seen enough. Let's give him some time to think about all of this and evaluate his options," Adrian said and both left City Hall, trying not to interact with any of the angry groups of mammals on their way out. The disappointment about the loss

Back on the streets, Sophie said, "You know...I feel sorry for him. I mean it was his dream and the dream of so many other mammals. Wasn't it?"

"Don't worry, there's more than enough time to correct what was done today and I guess it was good that someone showed Paul who has the power in this city," Adrian explained while they strolled down the sidewalk towards their car in a nearby parking lot when both of them recognized that a limousine was driving slowly beside them. They stopped and so did the long, black car.

Fear spiked for a second in Sophie and her paw went automatically down to the blade that was hidden on her right thigh. She relaxed when she recognized a familiar smell coming from the opening door.

A lynx dressed in a grew suit exited the car on the passenger side and went to the back where Sophie and Adrian were standing.

"Excuse me, Kingfisher and…," the lynx began but looked confused at Sophie. The feline answered quickly, "Hummingbird."

"Of course...how rude of me. Mrs. Bell wants to see the two of you. Immediately."

"Did something happen," Adrian asked back.

"I guess you should ask her that question yourself," the lynx said and opened the backdoor which led into the luxurious car. Sophie went first because Adrian threw the keys to his car over to the lynx.

"Here's also the parking card for the lot behind you. No scratches, did you hear me, Harry? I guess we will need our car later on."

The lynx nodded and disappeared into the nearby parking lot while the two sat down and saw what was wrong. In front of them sat Minerva Bell and seemed to wait eagerly for them to arrive. The lynx lady looked different today and it took Sophie a second to understand what it was.

'The fur on her cheeks is damp...she had cried a lot, so much is sure,' Sophie thought and felt how anger and compassion rose up in her. Anger about whoever did this to her and compassion for her suffering. Without thinking, Sophie reached out for Minerva's paw and gave her an encouraging squeeze. The old lynx smiled back at her and Adrian asked what was on the mind of both of them.

"What happened, Minerva?"

"They got her, Adrian. They got my little girl and I don't know what to do. I need you, please."


End file.
